This week's opinion

HMRC publishes many research reports. One that caught my eye recently had the less than snappy title Tolerance Testing with PAYE Customers . This was not as you might think about how much tax they could tolerate paying but how best HMRC should communicate its policy of not collecting small underpayments or repaying small overpayments. At the end of the paper is a brief section on whether the annual tax reconciliation that is now sent to all PAYE taxpayers should include a thank you. Not surprisingly the survey produced a range of answers. As the report says reactions varied from those who felt that it was a polite inclusion that showed appreciation to those who were indifferent through to those who thought it was patronising or even offensive. One comment appealed to me: ‘It is not a choice to pay tax. A thank-you is good manners...