HMRC should be more honest when informing the media of the results of tax cases, say accountants.
The Revenue is quick to promote its victories but often unwilling to mention its losses, claimed MHA MacIntyre Hudson, following this week’s First-tier Tribunal case against the former Rangers Football Club: one of the few widely reported reversals for the department, which had challenged the use of employee benefit trusts to reduce tax bills.
“It’s interesting to note the comparative silence… when HMRC lose cases involving perceived tax avoidance,” said the accountancy firm’s tax partner Nigel May.
He called for a balanced and a realistic approach to be brought by the taxman to the reporting of tax issues – which would provoke officials into taking better care in their actions.
“There are too many instances in which HMRC’s actions are simply unconscionable, detached from the real world and liable to alienate business,” added May, who claimed the Revenue is being increasingly heavy handed in its legal endeavours.
He cited the recent case of Four Colours Print Services, in which one of two directors of a small company became terminally ill.
“She was the sole signatory on the [firm’s] bank account, yet HMRC did not think this was the existence of special circumstances that might have been the cause of the company’s compliance falling short,” said May.
I think the problem may be that HMRC is very much into marketing (spin) and cannot therefore offer a balanced view. I commented on my blog recently about their difference in attitude to crooked accountants as opposed to crooked HMRC staff