Massive tax problem ... please help

WHA

For heaven's sake, sack your agent (you still havn't said whether they are a qualified accountant or whatever they are) and appoint a tax enquiry specialist to start over again - from what you say, either your agent is a complete plonker or you havn't given your agent the full facts. Remember, they are "your agent" i.e. acting on your behalf - they need to have the experience and guts to tackle and argue against the tax inspector. The tax inspector has no rights to do as you are saying - he needs to be challenged - don't shy away from it.

Poppy9

Taxaid is a charity that gives free, professional advice if you can't afford to pay for an accountant. It can be contacted by phone on 020 7803 4959 between 10am and noon, Mondays to Thursdays. However, be aware, that there is big demand for its services.

wassup

WHA wrote:

(you still havn't said whether they are a qualified accountant or whatever they are)

To be honest I don't actually know what his qualifications are... I think he is a qualified accountant, he was introduced to me as one... but how would I know.

shays_mum

I saw a guy here who, as this site had helped him alot, was willing to help ppl with their tax problems. He was a specialist tax guy i think a part of the chartered tax whatever they have.
It was only recently i saw the posting, maybe do a search under tax specialists or something.
A similar thing happened to my father, what you really need is an accountant who is a tax specialist. If you would like the details of the guy who helped my dad out of a very stick situation, pls pm me. Sorry i can't be off more help , goodluck.

UPDATE: OK FOUND THE PERSON I WAS TALKING ABOUT THERE ID NAME PETMIDGET, POSTING ON 28/6/6 he's on page 2 if you go down the main tax page - under the heading chartered tax advisor -HTH!!

geo555

I take it the tax person was from the "Compliance Department".
They constantly pester compaines to find the smallest discreprancy and then hit them. Most settle to avoid the full investigation.
They won't admit it, but the investigator does get a commission on the tax paid.
Your agent doesn't sound up to the job. Fight it. Go to the special commissioner. Its not as daunting as it sounds. So long as you haven't been living beyond your (accountable) means, you should be alright. It when you have the new Porsche on the driveway and you only earn £15000 a year you have no chance.

Poppy9

I don't think the IR or C&E hide the fact anymore that their inspectors have targets. We had a lovely couple of VAT inspectors in work recently. One was so rude and was so pleased with himself when he gave us a bill for £200k. I'd love to see the look on his face when our new VAT consultants found a previous error by a VAT inspector and made a claim for a £3m rebate:D I think that b'ggered up any targets he made.

Any IR make mistakes, they are human not machines and misinterpret rules and regs etc. I wasn't happy with a £1k bill at the end of the winding up of my OH business so I rang them. They threatened me with a full tax audit. I knew I was right though and they had made a basic mistake in their use of my figures from the self assessment form. I even read out to him from their own notes of guidance how to calculate the figure in box x if the return was the final one for a business and the business had started before self assessment was introduced. He haughtly told me that they didn't make mistakes but just as I was about to send off my letter outlining their error a revised tax bill arrived. Think it was for about £60 rebate! Classic case of unqualified clerk entering figures from form into a computer programme incorrectly.

wassup

After 4 years of worry I about out of energy for a fight. My agent keeps saying its for me to prove I didn't make the money. But how do you prove something didnt happen.

I have given the following suggestions that indicate my spending power:

The car i drive is low value... like £4000, bought secondhand with 100k on clock.

Holidays are 10 days in spain per year done on cheap.

Weekly shop done at tesco and should be recorded on club card. Nothing extravagant. Dont smoke or drink.

I got some estate agents round to value my house and they all said it was 'a bit dated'... ie kitchen needs renewing, so does bathroom and rest of it. So no big spending there, and no alterations or extensions been done since I bought it 14 years ago.

The past 3 years I have records showing my attendance at University Classes and hospital placements in connection with my nurse training... leaving little time to turnover £50k per year as suggested by the inspector.

I had accounts with companies such as courier company and parts suppliers. All these show a significant drop since I started University course... indicating a reduction in activity.

Despite this 'evidence' I am not confident I will get anywhere.

wassup

albertross wrote:

Why has it dragged on for 4 years, they have a duty to conclude investigations speedily.

Haha dont make me laugh..... I could go 6 months without hearing from them.

Ludicrous is a word that my agent has put to them.... no response.

Pennywise

As others have said, get a grip on your agent. Your agent should be working for you. There is no excuse for an enquiry to go on for 4 years. If the tax inspector has been dragging his feet, your agent should have been pestering him and ultimately taking the case to commissioners for closure. 4 Years is far too long. Are you sure that your agent has been responding quickly, or has he been taking 6 months as well?

There is absolutely no reason why you can't defend yourself against them going back a few extra years. Circumstances from year to year are different and tax inspector has no automatic right to assume things are the same. Has your agent objected to the earlier years? If not, why not? If inspector persists, get your agent to go to the commissioners armed with plenty of information and reasons why it's wrong.

As for penalties, etc., they are negotiable - if you and your agent have been fully co-operative, you should have to pay very little in penalties.

Reading this thread, it sounds like your problem is with your agent, not the tax inspector. You MUST properly think about whether s/he is a fit person to act on your behalf. If they are properly qualified, they will have "chartered accountants", "certified accountants" or "chartered tax adviser" on their letterhead and business card. If they call themselves merely "accountants" then they're not properly qualified and you're probably dealing with amateurs. Even being qualified is no guarantee of proper experience in tax investigations. When so much money is at stake, you NEED proper advice.

Pennywise

wassup wrote:

Haha dont make me laugh..... I could go 6 months without hearing from them.

Ludicrous is a word that my agent has put to them.... no response.

Surely if you had an agent, it would have been the agent in correspondence with the tax inspector and not you directly. In fact, you'd know nothing about it unless the agent copied you in on the correspondence and/or discussed everything with you. The more I hear about this "agent", the more I worry - it's not a bloke down the pub is it?