In some cases this might be an issue of human error – that is, an official simply mis-filing something in the wrong taxpayer’s records – but in other cases, it does appear that information has simply gone into an ‘IT blackhole’ and cannot be recovered or found.
Such errors can create additional costs for taxpayers and often can result in real angst, as HMRC can, for example, issue heavy-handed demands for outstanding data that has already been provided.
Consistency concerns
Finally, there are also major issues and problems in dealing with HMRC from a consistency perspective at the present time – that is, one can make a tax submission for two individuals, for example, at the same time and with exactly the same facts and circumstances and with each submission then being handled by two different HMRC officials with totally different levels of experience and background knowledge.
This situation almost inevitably results in the two officials taking totally different approaches to the two submissions and the taxpayers then being treated in fundamentally different ways and often ending up with totally different tax liabilities and penalties, for example.
While it is always possible, in principle, to appeal against HMRC rulings, where these are incorrect or illogical, the reality is that such appeals cost money and are often therefore not a practical option for the taxpayer, as they will not in 99 per cent of such cases ever be able to recover their additional professional costs back from HMRC.
In summary, therefore, one can certainly say that the recruitment of the additional compliance officers is potentially a good first step by the government.
However, unless these individuals are properly trained – and the pay and conditions are good enough to retain them on a longer-term basis – the reality is that this could simply be a case of the government throwing money down the drain and the changes creating additional problems for taxpayers with poorly-trained officers taking inconsistent technical positions and mis-applying tax legislation to the detriment of taxpayers.
Robert Salter is a director of Blick Rothenberg
