Accountants claim that HMRC is adopting threatening behaviour towards innocent tax payers and umbrella company contractors in a bid to gather in more income.
The Revenue has sent out letters telling people they are arranging to visit their house in order to list possessions that could be sold at auction.
These threats contravene the guidance for debt collectors laid down by the Office of Fair Trading but amazingly government departments, such as HMRC, are not covered by these guidelines.
However, HMRC cannot force its way into somebody’s home without a warrant. It can only assess people’s belongings if they are invited into the home.
One 69 year old woman was threatened by the Revenue’s debt management team in January. She owed a total of £1,296 and set up an arrangement with HMRC’s Cumbernauld office to pay the debt in monthly instalments of £217. Despite sticking to the arrangement, the woman has received letters from the Croydon debt office threatening to take her possessions to sell at auction.
Robin Williamson, from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, said that people should not receive this sort of letter if they dispute a debt or have already agreed payment.
In a related story, HMRC is accused of profiting by delaying payment of tax refunds. The Revenue charges 0.5% interest on tax it needs to repay but 3% on overdue tax that it is owed to it. Tax advisers say that some tax refunds are being held up by as long as ten weeks while the Revenue undertakes random security checks.
A spokesman for the Revenue said that the majority of refunds are paid promptly and the interest rate on overpaid tax reflects the return on deposits whilst the rate on unpaid liabilities is designed to encourage prompt payment.
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Image: bad intentions by gagilas
