Is this a good idea or a bad one re tax collecting?

[blackburn_stevie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27308811

If HMRC are going to act "robustly" using an accountancy body to recover debts of over £1,000, will the cost for the recvery of the cash be less than £1,000 in each individual case? If not, it won't be cost effective and HMRC are wasting money.

[al**bear]

It's about time they went after unbelievable amounts of Tax avoidance by large firms and very the Rich, instead of aggressively going after the minnows

This absolutely dwarves (even the massively inflated Government figures) for Benefit abuses/mistakes

[blackburn_stevie]

Absolutely correct, Al. Or is it that HMRC have found that it's a waste of time and effort going after firms like eBay who register in places like Luxemburg for their financial side?

[**caution**opinion_ahead]

What would slightly worry me would be whether they could take money if a dispute over whether it was owed was ongoing.  So, the tax office says you owe something, you don't think you do but, whilst you are gathering your case together, they take it anyway.  Much harder to get it back then, I'd have thought.

[cee-dee]

As I read that, it seemed to me that it's the HMRC which will be seizing the money, the "Accountancy Body" was only commenting?

Also, they'll only grab the money if there's already been four demands for payment so that means if you get a demand for taxes which you dispute, it's up to you to take the matter up with the HMRC because they can't arbitrally "settle" something while it's still in dispute.

[**caution**opinion_ahead]

In theory, yes, but there is room for error here, eg when someone has sent in documents and the Tax Office has "lost" them.  Also, if they are able to take money out of joint accounts, that could cause issues.

I'm all for big businesses being chased to pay what they legitimately owe, and for loopholes to be closed so their wiggle-room is less, but when it comes to the individual on the street, I'm not sure this sort of "permission" to take is either justified or wise. 

[evoman3957]

You have to be truly embroiled in a battle with this Country's Tax authorities, that's not even of your own making, to completely understand their level of incompetence, mis- management and inaccountability. I am PAYE and they managed to screw up my TAX monumentally, finally giving me a £1000 penalty for not paying back money I didn't even owe in the first place. Their "If you owe us money, we want it NOW......but if we owe you money.....we'll sort it out on your TAX code and you'll get it back NEXT Year" attitude says it all. Eventually, my case went to somebody high up the food chain and it got sorted; with somebody getting a clip round the Ear ( I hope ). Two weeks later, I got a letter saying "anyway you still owe us 80p"...........Yes you read that right......80p. I sent them a cheque for the 80p and with great restraint, didn't write a message on the back................and people are actually contemplating giving these OAFS direct access to bank accounts........Gawd elp us!!

It won't be the "Big Fish" who'll suffer and you must know that surely !!

[tommy.irene]

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@evoman3957 wrote:

You have to be truly embroiled in a battle with this Country's Tax authorities, that's not even of your own making, to completely understand their level of incompetence, mis- management and inaccountability. I am PAYE and they managed to screw up my TAX monumentally, finally giving me a £1000 penalty for not paying back money I didn't even owe in the first place. Their "If you owe us money, we want it NOW......but if we owe you money.....we'll sort it out on your TAX code and you'll get it back NEXT Year" attitude says it all. Eventually, my case went to somebody high up the food chain and it got sorted; with somebody getting a clip round the Ear ( I hope ). Two weeks later, I got a letter saying "anyway you still owe us 80p"...........Yes you read that right......80p. I sent them a cheque for the 80p and with great restraint, didn't write a message on the back................and people are actually contemplating giving these OAFS direct access to bank accounts........Gawd elp us!!

It won't be the "Big Fish" who'll suffer and you must know that surely !!

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Next it will be the council looking the parking fine money or the Landlord looking back rent,,even the Tv Men looking there money..

This will let people into your Bank Account.