The
YOUR ROUTE TO
Steedman
LOW-COST
Column
INSURANCE
Revenue confi dentiality/Driving the taxpaying
companies out of the UK
As part of the 2009 budget Alistair Darling announced that the government
would publish the names and addresses of tax cheats who deliberately
understate the amount of tax they owe by more than £25,000.This is a
controversial departure abandoning the confi dentiality underpinning the tax
system and sadly will probably lead to other aspects of oneʼs private tax
affairs no longer being kept between you the taxpayer and the government.
People such as part time workers having several jobs have always been TAXI
treated with such confi dence and those include part time fi remen and
ambulancemen and even dare I say taxmen themselves have been known
to “moonlight”.The word moonlight was particularly appropriate in my own
case when I worked as a taxman by day and a taxi driver by night ( see Taxi
Talk issue no 180) as I drove round the streets of Edinburgh in a fast black to
supplement my income as a taxman in order to afford some of lifeʼs extras or
was it to pay my mortgage ? Probably a bit of both.
Anyway what is different with the new tax cheat threat is that up until now Competitive premiums for:
the naming and shaming of people has been left to those charged with
criminal tax offences and even in these cases the Revenue was very
selective in releasing the individual details.They tended to give maximum
• Private & public hire vehicles
publicity through their well oiled press offi ce to famous names who had
gotten into trouble such as Lester Piggot and Ken Dodd.Now even you
• Private car bonus accepted*
could theoretically fi nd your name on a list detailing your name address
and occupation even before you have been challenged about it by them.
• Mini-fl eets from 2 vehicles
They have however said that those involved would be given a chance to
• Owner/driver fl eets
come clean fi rst and in reality it is unlikely that minor investigations and
cases where the tax lost is insubstantial will be of much interest to anyone • Schemes for cab bases
especially newspaper editors.They have said that the tax would need to
be understated by only £25,000 to make one eligible for publication so taxi
• Offi ce & Liability cover
drivers beware!
• Legal expenses and replacement
On a similar theme following the 2009 budget and the economic meltdown I
cabs available*
wrote in a recent column about the new tax threat with investigation and I can
now confi rm that the Revenue are about to launch into a new tax offensive • Monthly fi nance arranged*
against small and medium businesses.The good news ( if there is any that is
when one talks about tax ! ) is that the wealthy are now being targeted as the
pressure mounts to pull in more cash.In early 2009 yet another new unit was
created to target high net worth individuals including non-domiciles and multi-
*subject to terms & conditions
millionaires.They have also stated that any wealthy taxpayers with complex
tax affairs could come under the spotlight of the unit.
phone now on
Unfortunately they are too late to catch many of these people who scarpered
abroad when the new 50 % top rate of tax was announced and now in the
latest shock to hit the Revenue approximately half of the largest 30 UK
companies are to relocate abroad shifting their tax base offshore.Last week
0845 230 3330
fi ndings unearthed by the Sunday Times revealed that 15 of the top 30
companies have been reviewing their base with a view to pulling out of the
UK following new punitive reforms to the taxation of foreign profi ts.Large
or visit us at
sums earned by multi-national companies including BAE Systems, Xstrata
the mining group and EMI were to be brought within the scope of UK tax but
now these fi rms are planning their removals to keep substantial profi ts away
robertnott.co.uk
from the clutches of HMRC in the UK. Other companies in the top 30 of the
FTSE including London listed groups such as WPP, the advertising group
Shire, a pharmaceuticals company and United Biscuits Media have already
moved to Dublin and others such as Diageo and Unilever announced plans
to move also.Senior Revenue offi cials are meeting lawyers and accountants
representing the major companies still here on February 23rd in an effort to
stem the drain but it may be too late.The knock on effect will be huge and
in my view the sooner we develop a completely new tax strategy to keep
successful companies and individuals in the UK the better.It may even be
worth reducing tax - now thereʼs an idea !
Robert Nott & Partners Ltd t/as Robert Nott Insurance
21 Crook Log, Bexleyheath, Kent. DA6 8EB
Ricky Steedman
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority
Tax Consultant
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