General Tax Amnesty For All?

[SamDineWithMe]

First a couple of bits of good news -
General Tax Amnesty for All
with penalty 0%; 10% or 20%

I am finding this forum and its members really interesting. Who would have known how engaging tax reading can be. They say that accountants are boring, but this is more scintillating than reading a red top newspaper. I shall cancel my subscription to Bella magazine and just come in here for a browse. I have no tax concerns, but already am saving money.

I was reading a website from here and saw the above. Is it true? Does anyone have any links to that?
If there is a General Tax Amnesty, perhaps there are people who could "come in from the cold".
Is the Amnesty on penalties of 0% 10% and 20%?
Or, are penalties on all tax liability previously undeclared to the HMRC, or mistakes discovered or something else, reduced to 0% 10% and 20%?

I do not know the technical language for all this. But give me a couple of days and I might.

[wamstax]

Hi there join the "boring club" and late night reading can cure insomnia - for the latest tax disclosure facility (that just expired yesterday for notifying HMRC of intention to disclose and pay everything by 31-03-2012) see the following link
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ris/tcup/notify.htm

Most past years - outwith the spate of HMRC inspired disclsoure opportunities will be working on the old style penalties (i.e. based on disclosure/cooperation and seriousness (size and gravity)) with discounts disclosure (Max 20%)/cooperation (Max 40%) and seriousness (Max 40%) ) while after April 2009 offences will be based on the nature of the errors and actions of the taxpayer (see the following link - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/agents/compliance/penalties.htm)

Watch out though as a little knowledge can be dangerous and tends to lead you into answering tax problems over a pint in the pub.

[SamDineWithMe]

Thank you WamsTax.

So to make a voluntary disclosure and limit or reduce the penalties, you need to be able to pay the outstanding liability by a date not too distant. So, young person (or older one) sets up a business or starts receiving money for a skill they have and surprises themself with it taking off. However whilst building that business and catching up with demand, they do not get to grips with their tax liability or get their accounts sorted out.

With the voluntary disclosure, that person can opt to pay their tax and get on board with the HMRC (and the rest of society that likes having education and health care free at the point of delivery) much quicker. They can do it while it is still possible and manageable without bankruptcy. Perhaps before they get used to spending money that is not theirs and their lifestyle expands to fit 40% more money than they can generate.

People that could not care less about their duties, may not be enticed or triggered. But those that are mortified at the mess they have got in, and who want to do something; they can.

Perhaps someone that has a windfall or inherits wants to spend their money on sleeping soundly at night and the gift them want to buy themselves is peace of mind and not fearing the shadowy man at the door holding a calculator and handcuffs. (The handcuffs are of course quite rare and it is civil law that comes out to play rather than criminal. So they would probably have photographs of terminally ill children in hospital with no medicines instead. Perhaps tucked into their hatband.)

From this site I am reading the overall message to be:
Declare and disclose sooner rather than later, but have a tax professional who is experienced to negociate on your behalf. It will help you the individual and the tax department if you do. Do not get any old bod to deal with your paperwork. An accountant that has little or no experience of the area of tax you are caught up in can do more harm than good.

I don't really do pubs, but if I hear of anyone that may need this option I would probably say to them that they could look at the Tax Amnesty offers (offers?) at the HMRC and speak to a tax expert. I would not pretend to know more than that. I have read about thirty per cent of the threads in this section of the forum. When I got to the ones before you turned up Wams, it was a lot less interesting.

At the end of the threads in the 18 pages available, where you were not contributing, I went "Aaaawwww". You know, like children used to do at Saturday cinema, when the lady in the village hall let them know it was the last reel of the morning and the jelly babies had run out.

Is there another tax amnesty starting up?
I know of someone, that knows someone that...

[wamstax]

Maybe you should write a book..... and thanks for the comments. I try to be as comprehensive in my responses but my other life (retired but making a living) means that my contributions on the website are sometimes few and far between. However my "hobby" is tax enquiry work and I enjoy the challenges - not always only coming from the HMRC side - of getting the proper picture put in place to get the client as fair a deal as is possible.

As to your comment regarding payment it is not always a contract breaker if the client cannot pay all the money in 30 days - HMRC's Inspectors' usual expectation on contracts and experienced negotiators can usually achieve a settlement that is fair all round. Even sometimes if this is a situation of advising clients to consider discussing matters with insolvency experts and IVAs.

Although the inspirer of the amnesties - Dave Hartnett - got "his early retiral" recently possibly because of PAC questions on the likes of Goldman Sachs and Vodafone I am sure that HMRC will continue the practice that has built up over the last few years. There is always the Lichtenstein Facility available ongoing through 2012 and 2013 for any "wealthy" person with money offshore. But your summary of the tenor of message on this website - Namely disclose early (hopefully before they come to you), cooperate and hopefully also pay your money and dues as early as possible to reap the fairest and best result. Mind you when I say cooperate I do not mean lie down and let HMRC kick you but get the best specialist you can afford and while dealing with matters quickly take the stance that minimises your tax liability to its full extent. After all if you reduce the tax payable then the interest is reduced and also the penalty is reduced all in one go. More is gained from minimising tax bills than is ever gained by negotiating penalties. So you need advisers that are not only specialist in enquiry work but preferably have highly tuned tax knowledge as well and keep themselves up to date with changing rules and regulations etc.