Would you report to HMRC?

theGrinch

depends who and how I found out. if they were boasting and claiming benefits they not entitled to it would swing it.

I thought I would always dob tax evaders, but after the sweetheart deals, bailouts, botched IT projects and MP expenses I sometimes think the country is being run into the ground by a 3 party maf.ia on the make and on the take...oops a bit of politics

FireWyrm

theGrinch wrote: »

depends who and how I found out. if they were boasting and claiming benefits they not entitled to it would swing it.

I thought I would always dob tax evaders, but after the sweetheart deals, bailouts, botched IT projects and MP expenses I sometimes think the country is being run into the ground by a 3 party maf.ia on the make and on the take...oops a bit of politics

And you would only be saying what we are all thinking. I was taught to respect the police, but after witnessing their bumbling and outright alarming semi-paramilitary behaviour first hand, my respect has been somewhat tarnished lately. It's the same with the government. Times past, we always believed that they had the countrys best interests at heart, but lately, I've begun to wonder which master they serve. It doesn't seem to be the general public, more likely themselves first and other powers second. The well being of the great unwashed is a very distant supplicant in a long line of trough snufflers.

Frogfish

FireWyrm wrote: »

If I liked the person, or they were in some way significant to me, I would be inclined to take a charitable view. Pehaps they simply don't know that you need to do this. I know ignorance is no defence and if they are caught, the HMRC will show little mercy, but on the other hand, it does seem entirely unfair to pay tax o the money earned since you have already paid tax on the money to buy the property and a miriad of other wheezes the government is involved in.

On the other hand, if the perpetrator had annoyed me in some way, or continued to make life hard for me, I would shop them in a heart beat and I have done so once in my life. My next door neighbour was a continual thorn in my side growing up. When he nearly beat my cat to death one evening, I decided to inform HMRC of his extra curricular building activities on which I was sure no tax was being paid. To my mild shame, he was forced to sell his house to pay the tax bill and eventually died in punury, so you'll have to live with your conscience and the law of unintended consequences. He wasn't a very nice man, but did he deserve to loose his house for my moment of fury? Only you can decide whether your actions would be worth that.

But this didn't ultimately happen because of your actions, did it? It happened because of his actions, in not paying his tax bill.

We either sit back and allow crimes to happen unpunished, or we take collective responsibility. If you had seen your neighbour mug someone, you would have told the police. You saw a crime (tax evasion) being committed, and reported it. There is no shame in that.

FireWyrm

Frogfish wrote: »

But this didn't ultimately happen because of your actions, did it? It happened because of his actions, in not paying his tax bill.

We either sit back and allow crimes to happen unpunished, or we take collective responsibility. If you had seen your neighbour mug someone, you would have told the police. You saw a crime (tax evasion) being committed, and reported it. There is no shame in that.

Mugging is a crime, there are those who argue that tax evasion is more technical than actual. There is a chance he would have been found out eventually without my intervention, but my actions directly led to a downward spiral which resulted ultimately in him crawling into a bottle and dying there.

grey_lady

It's not as simple as landlady earning £700 a month in rent so should be coughing up £1680 come January to HMRC, there are all kinds of allowances and deductions, e.g. if there's a 10% letting agent fee, cost of keys, furniture, mortgage interest oh and a general 10% wear and tear allowance so the actual amount owed might be a lot smaller for a single property - and if the landlady isnt working then it would fall under her tax free allowance anyway.

Personally i wouldnt bother.

ognum

grey_lady wrote: »

It's not as simple as landlady earning £700 a month in rent so should be coughing up £1680 come January to HMRC, there are all kinds of allowances and deductions, e.g. if there's a 10% letting agent fee, cost of keys, furniture, mortgage interest oh and a general 10% wear and tear allowance so the actual amount owed might be a lot smaller for a single property - and if the landlady isnt working then it would fall under her tax free allowance anyway.

Personally i wouldnt bother.

There iis no choice though to submit a self assessment even under the circumstances you state.

If these are the circumstances why would someone not complete everything legal and avoid the non compliance fine?