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The curajus taxman in action!

Middle-class taxpayers have been issued with a record number of fines for making mistakes on their returns.

HM Revenue & Customs imposed 143,000 penalties last year on people who filed inaccurate information because it deemed them not to have taken “reasonable care” — nearly three times the 55,000 fines levied in 2012.

Accountants warned yesterday that people were being penalised for forgetting to declare the interest on a long-lost savings account or omitting a health insurance policy or gym membership received through work.

The entire town of Ely is rocking such is the level of frotting and self-pleasuring going on.

The figures show that HMRC suspended the fines given to 72,000 taxpayers who made mistakes last year following criticism by First Tier Tax Tribunals, the courts that consider appeals against the taxman. The tribunals ruled that penalties should be used only when they were needed to encourage a change in behaviour. In 2012 only 16,000 fines were suspended.

8 thoughts on “The curajus taxman in action!”

  1. Has the system become three times more complicated over the last five years? Unlikely. So it seems that HMRC’s enforcers have become three times more efficient; despite the cutbacks. I’m sure our favourite accountant will cheer them on.

  2. I suspect it’s because of the State’s literally insatiable demand for other peoples’ cash.

    The order will have gone out to maximise the take without causing awkward headlines like “2p on income tax” etc etc.

    This is one of the results.

  3. The enforcers have become a lot more efficient at matching up information. I’ve had a significant number of enquiries about missing bank interest, or discrepancies between the return and the P60 or P11D. This tends to generate a lot of small sums, each of which qualifies for a penalty (as being a careless, prompted error) which is ripe for suspension.

    Note that the proportion of suspensions has only increased from 1/3 of penalties to 1/2. It probably ought to be higher still, if the extra penalties come from this sort of thing. HMRC do keep forgetting to offer it, though…

  4. Just shows that, as in the US, the tax code is way too complicated. And the scum who impose the fines are the same, by and large, who manage to not be held accountable for their own delinquency.

  5. It’s not nearly as complicated as the U.S. system; it’s just easy to make mistakes. As the article says, forgetting to list the health insurance provided by your employer – which many people will never even have used – makes you liable for a fine.

    Employers can automatically deduct the P11D tax to PAYE, so that the employee has nothing extra to pay at the end of the year.

    Better still, employees can pay for their own gym memberships and health insurance, rather than being given it for “free” then having to pay 40% of the cost a year later.

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