Will HMRC clampdown affect umbrella companies?
A fivefold increase in prosecutions against tax evaders could see HMRC bringing 800 people a year to court. In the year to September 30 2009, the Revenue brought 157 prosecutions against individuals.
A fivefold increase in prosecutions against tax evaders could see HMRC bringing 800 people a year to court. In the year to September 30 2009, the Revenue brought 157 prosecutions against individuals.
Any contractors currently at work in the UK as either limited companies or sole traders may be interested in a new series of figures recently published by HM Revenue & Customs.
Due to recently discovered errors, HMRC has sent out its first round of approximately 45,000 letters to taxpayers, potentially including umbrella company contractors, informing them that their taxes were wrong. The total number of letters sent out should top 6 million by the end of this year.
Nearly six million UK taxpayers, including umbrella company contractors, are due for a rude awakening, thanks to an error in the PAYE system.
Tim Denison from Synovate believes that the VAT increase which will come into effect next January could be the first of a range of changes.
The fiasco surrounding HMRC’s attempt to introduce a new system to cope with PAYE codes earlier this year continues with news that PAYE processing errors resulted in a 15.7% increase in underpayments and a 148% increase in overpayments.
Last week HMRC sent out letters to some of the taxpayers who had taken up the Offshore Disclosure Facility to ask them for their insights.
A fresh warning has been issued about a telephone scam that could be targeting small business owners and umbrella company contractors.
We all know that HMRC has been instructed to collect as much overdue tax as possible but it might surprise you to know that it also has a significant amount of overpaid tax claims to work through.
HMRC is set to increase its investigations into tax avoidance and contractors not operating via an umbrella company may wish to get advice from a specialist accountant to ensure that all their tax matters are in order.
1% fewer companies became insolvent in the 2nd quarter compared to the 1st quarter of 2010 according to the latest analysis from PricewaterhouseCoopers. 3,467 businesses became insolvent during the period, a drop of 28% from the same quarter last year.
The Low Income Tax Reform Group believes that HMRC’s decision to reduce the opening hours of its helpline will hamper it in its long term aim to move to online services.
The government has announced that they will once again look at whether a general anti-avoidance rule should be introduced as a measure to deter limited company tax evaders.
HMRC recently issued a statement to remind people of the need to complete their VAT procedures online if they have an annual turnover in excess of £100,000 or registered for VAT after the first of April this year.
Morale is currently low at HMRC and employees have now been warned that they are in for tough times ahead. Chief Executive, Lesley Strathie, informed staff that they need to be realistic about the challenges they face.
Ten of thousands of people, including contractors and freelancers, have been affected by the tax coding problems caused when HMRC migrated their records to a new computer system earlier this year.