House of Lords report censures HMRC

**Dmac** · 4 December 2018, 10:58

WOW!

Originally posted by webberg View Post

and is here:

House of Lords - Economic Affairs Committee - The Powers of HMRC: Treating Taxpayers Fairly

It has had national press coverage.

HMRC/Stride has already tried to claim that their Lordships are in error and that HMRC is doing a fine job in implementing the legislation that your elected representatives have seen fit to approve (apparently on the basis of three questions that constitute the "detailed examination" of the law).

Unfortunately, this week is a good time for the Government to bury bad news.

Don't let this happen.

Share this with every contact you have and ask them to share it.

Agencies
Recruiters
Umbrellas
FCSA
REC
Local press
Specialist press
etc

An extract:-

"76.The loan charge is, however, retrospective in its effect. Parliament has laid down time limits for tax matters of four, six and 20 years which give certainty to taxpayers about their affairs. It undermines this framework to artificially trigger a future charge.

77.In its retrospective effect, and its failure to pursue taxpayers proportionately to their circumstances, HMRC’s approach to the loan charge diverges substantially from the principles in the Powers Review.

78.We recommend that the loan charge legislation is amended to exclude from the charge loans made in years where taxpayers disclosed their participation in these schemes to HMRC or which would otherwise have been “closed”."

**webberg** · 4 December 2018, 11:05

The report has many, many quotable sentences.

Para 43.

"It [HMRC] is being asked by ministers to colect more tax with fewer staff. These cultural drivers may have pressured staff to take a more aggressive apporach to tax collection"

Para 47

"The Powers Review demonstrated the importance and advantages of developing a tax powers framework on an agreed set of principles. These principles are being forgotten in the push to tackle tax avoidance and evasion with fewer HMRC resources"

**ChimpMaster** · 4 December 2018, 13:07

This report needs to be circulated far and wide.

I have a friend in the reporting/media team at CIOT. I have sent him the link (though he was probably already aware) and CIOT will be issuing a press release later today. Good news is that they agree with pretty much all of the HoL's points. After all, why wouldn't they - it makes perfect sense to everyone in the world, except of course to HMRC.

**Dmac** · 4 December 2018, 14:29

What now?

Originally posted by ChimpMaster View Post

This report needs to be circulated far and wide.

I have a friend in the reporting/media team at CIOT. I have sent him the link (though he was probably already aware) and CIOT will be issuing a press release later today. Good news is that they agree with pretty much all of the HoL's points. After all, why wouldn't they - it makes perfect sense to everyone in the world, except of course to HMRC.

The question is, what happens with this report now? What powers do this sub-committee have, and are they able to expedite the outcomes / recommendations ahead of April 2019?

According to the report, ministers are not giving this issue the gravity it deserves, which is frankly disgraceful:-

"The Sub-Committee invited the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, the Rt Hon Mel Stride MP, to give evidence to the inquiry. The Financial Secretary refused to participate.4 We have serious concerns about the Minister’s failure to give evidence to our inquiry."

"We initially invited HMRC and Treasury officials to give evidence, but we were moved by the gravity of concerns raised in written evidence to the inquiry to consider a ministerial response more appropriate. We made this clear to the Minister and offered him several dates, but he continued to decline. We consider his reluctance to appear, in light of other evidence received in this inquiry, to be part of a wider trend of insufficient parliamentary scrutiny of tax administration."

**GreenMirror** · 4 December 2018, 14:34

Outlawing retrospective legislation would be a start.

Well we need one more retrospective legislation. The one outlawing retrospective legislation.

**1887wwfc** · 4 December 2018, 16:06

Press Coverage

Good to see some Mainstream press coverage too:

HMRC treating taxpayers unfairly, House of Lords report says | The Independent

**DaveB** · 5 December 2018, 09:32

Popped up on the Register as well

UK taxman told to chill out 'cos loan charge is whacking tax dodgers and whoopsies alike • The Register

**smalldog** · 6 December 2018, 10:48

its all over the press now, FT had hold of it this morning.

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

**EBTContractor** · 22 December 2018, 08:08

Yet nothing is or is likely to happen. This seemed a bit of a waste of time, as expected.

House of Lords report censures HMRC