31 January 2012:
Deadline for individual UK taxpayers to submit 2010/11 tax returns and pay up, on pain of penalties.
31 July 2015:
Deadline for Vodafone (profits:£10bn per year) to pay up on the cushy deal reached in 2010/11 to settle its multi-billion-pound offshore tax avoidance dispute.
As revealed in Private Eye No. 1305 13 January – 26 January 2012
We need more chartered accountants like Mad Mike Hoare. 
Instead of throwing him out of the Institute he should have been made President and C.E.O.
I can’t see him kowtowing to Dave Hartnett at HMRC.
With only 47 days to go until the tax return deadline (see timer in sidebar), the 3CA flying pig has been launched to reflect the likelihood of all returns being submitted on time!
This is the pig himself.
Last year I was banned from our local shopping centre for taking a photo of the UK Uncut protest against Topshop. This year I have put my money where my mouth is and sent UK Uncut a donation to protest against HMRC’s unfair treatment of small businesses compared to “big business”. If you’re sick of paying so much tax why don’t you do the same. Your tax bill won’t change but you’ll feel better when Goldman Sachs has to cough up £20 million and the head of HMRC has to resign!
This is how UK Uncut reported the latest news that the loss to the government (us) may have been £20 million and not £10 million as thought originally.
The full story is in The Guardian. Don’t forget that this is on top of the £5 million which Dave Hartnett HMRC “didn’t collect” from Vodaphone.
So, if you want to get your own back on HMRC make a donation to UK Uncut and watch the fur fly.
This is how HMRC wish accountants a Merry Christmas, managing at the same time to be politically correct.
Thanks and a very Merry Christmas to you too.
I know this is a joke but having seen the 
full range of accounting records over the years, ranging from none to a full, hand-written, double-entry system I’m just a little worried that somebody will think this is all that is needed to comply with HMRC’s advice on keeping records.
On a more serious note, HMRC have spent a considerable amount of time and money putting things in place to stop businesses being able to plead ignorance when it comes to bookkeeping.
Leaflets such as Keeping records for business – what you need to know have not been produced for our benefit. They are there so that HMRC can penalise businesses for poor bookkeeping.
The penalties are large (up to £3,000) so your New Year resolution may well have to be
I’m going to improve my books
P.S. Joke or no joke, I don’t want to see one of these tins ever. Least of all from a client.
Last March the Office of Tax Simplification published Review of tax reliefs – final report.
I have not mentioned the 191 page report before because I have spent the time since it was published trying to buy a bottle of Black Beer, which is described on the label as
“….. a drop of Yorkshire history.”
Dating back to 1901, Mather’s is the last known surviving Black Beer being produced in the UK. Famous enough to feature in the Yorkshire Post, the beer’s high Vitamin C content meant it was popular with mining communities. During the Second World War when rationing was brought in there was a move to stop its production, but because miners were so important to the war effort and needed their supply of Black Beer it was saved.
Its origins can be traced back to the mid 16th-century and a drink made from the mashed leaves of the Spruce Pine. A 100 or so years later, and with the addition of a little barley and malt, the story goes that Captain Cook became one of its greatest advocates believing that a large daily dose kept his sailors free from scurvy and setting up a brewery in New Zealand to make sure they had enough supplies for the long journey home.
Returning to the report of the Office of Tax Simplification you must be wondering what on earth Black Beer has to do with tax. All is revealed on page 169 when the report states
Black beer is exempt from excise duties. This exemption was originally introduced in FA
1930 s2(1) and is now in the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 s1(3)(a). It is also exempt from
customs duties by virtue of a derogation negotiated by the UK17
Quite frankly, who cares? Well the Office of Tax Simplification does because it is suggesting that this exemption is abolished to “simplify” tax law.
Really?
How much difference will this make to the typical small business trying to understand the complexities of Self Assessment, corporation tax, VAT and PAYE?
I can think of a better way to simplify tax law, abolish the Office of Tax Simplification and speak to some small businesses and their accountants.
Tax conferences by their very nature just cannot be fun. Believe me, I’ve attended more than enough to know, with the exception of a handful of speakers, they are boring even when you have an interest in tax.
I was delighted to discover, however, that UKUncut as well as trying to expose the double-dealing different approach HMRC have to big businesses compared to SMEs they are injecting some fun into tax conferences.
Well done UKUncut.
As soon as I start to feed the birds at the office, the squirrel appears.
Not happy with eating (burying?) a kilo of monkey nuts he then decided to steal the bird food.
FreeAgent shows your tax liabilities in the Tax Timeline on the Overview page but the figure will rarely agree with the amount your accountant has calculated and told you to pay.
The reason for the difference is, as FreeAgent say on their website:
The figures in FreeAgent are a projection of your company’s ball-park corporation tax figure. They may not agree to the figures worked out by your accountant but they should be in the correct region
Despite what FreeAgent say about correcting the difference I believe your accountant should be making the corporation tax account (820) agree with the actual amount you have to pay, not you. However, irrespective of who does do the journal entries the adjustment will not affect the figure shown on the Overview page.
P.S. It suddenly occured that I hadn’t explained exactly why your accountant does come up with a different figure than FreeAgent! I could bore and confuse you with a detailed explanation of tax relief on fixed assets and disallowable expenses but in simple terms the answer is
Tax is too complicated for it to be calculated in a simple way!
Ringbinder theme by 
Themocracy
