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Where Taxpayers and Advisers Meet
Heavy Handed HMRC
02/10/2011, by Mark McLaughlin CTA (Fellow) ATT TEP, Tax Articles - General
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In this week's Editorial Mark McLaughlin recounts how HM Revenue & Customs came round and threatened to take his television...

I returned home from work on Tuesday evening to find a hand delivered letter from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The letter stated that a 'field force agent' had called today to levy distraint on my goods and assets. It warned:

"You must pay now. If you do not, I will call again to levy distraint. This means I will seize your possessions and arrange for them to be removed and sold at public auction"

and

"If you are not in when I next call and you have still not paid in full, I will consider taking other legal action, including insolvency proceedings... ...starting proceedings in the county court to recover the unpaid debt."

However, HMRC's approach was sadly flawed in certain respects. The debt in question was a PAYE liability for a company in which I not a director or a major shareholder (I am actually the company secretary). In addition, my home is not a business address of the company. It is unfortunate that HMRC did not take the trouble to pick up the telephone to check these basic facts before turning up on my doorstep without warning, to pursue me for debts of a company with which I have no involvement in its business activities.

If that wasn't bad enough, the liability in question was not even outstanding! Apparently, the tax reference number used by the company was incorrect, but the payment was acknowledged when a company representative contacted HMRC, who checked their computer records - pity they didn't do that before 'sending the boys round' to my house!

By the way, how much was the 'liability' in question, and how long had it been 'outstanding'? £100,000 and 12 months, perhaps? Not quite - it was £1,900 and was for PAYE Month 4, ended 5 August 2011!

Not only is HMRC's approach heavy-handed in my view, but it is totally disproportionate to the amount of tax at stake. Surely they have bigger fish to fry?

A final request to HMRC - next time you come round to take away my settee, please make sure that my wife is sitting on it (only joking, dear!).

About The Author

Mark McLaughlin is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, a Fellow of the Association of Taxation Technicians, and a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. From January 1998 until December 2018, Mark was a consultant in his own tax practice, Mark McLaughlin Associates, which provided tax consultancy and support services to professional firms throughout the UK.

He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation’s Capital Gains Tax & Investment Income and Succession Taxes Sub-Committees.

Mark is editor and a co-author of HMRC Investigations Handbook (Bloomsbury Professional).

Mark is Chief Contributor to McLaughlin’s Tax Case Review, a monthly journal published by Tax Insider.

Mark is the Editor of the Core Tax Annuals (Bloomsbury Professional), and is a co-author of the ‘Inheritance Tax’ Annuals (Bloomsbury Professional).

Mark is Editor and a co-author of ‘Tax Planning’ (Bloomsbury Professional).

He is a co-author of ‘Ray & McLaughlin’s Practical IHT Planning’ (Bloomsbury Professional)

Mark is a Consultant Editor with Bloomsbury Professional, and co-author of ‘Incorporating and Disincorporating a Business’.

Mark has also written numerous articles for professional publications, including ‘Taxation’, ‘Tax Adviser’, ‘Tolley’s Practical Tax Newsletter’ and ‘Tax Journal’.

Mark is a Director of Tax Insider, and Editor of Tax Insider, Property Tax Insider and Business Tax Insider, which are monthly publications aimed at providing tax tips and tax saving ideas for taxpayers and professional advisers. He is also Editor of Tax Insider Professional, a monthly publication for professional practitioners.

Mark is also a tax lecturer, and has featured in online tax lectures for Tolley Seminars Online.

Mark co-founded TaxationWeb (www.taxationweb.co.uk) in 2002.

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