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It’s Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor

What does it mean the rate of attrition is higher among senior examiners auditing the rich? The examiner is getting fed up and leaving?
 
The tax system here seems largely to have been made redundant by “austerity”. I’ve never been audited yet, though have certainly noticed the ability to easily get through to them with a question is long gone. A few years back the phone was pretty much immediately answered by someone genuinely helpful and knowledgeable, now it is a bewildering voice-activated call tree that is so bad last time I tried it I just hung up in frustration and did what I thought was right rather than knowing for sure (I think I actually overpaid!). IIRC the tax service was cut very hard indeed so I can’t imagine it is remotely effective at catching tax fraud these days.
 
Tony L said:
The tax system here seems largely to have been made redundant by “austerity”. I’ve never been audited yet, though have certainly noticed the ability to easily get through to them with a question is long gone. A few years back the phone was pretty much immediately answered by someone genuinely helpful and knowledgeable, now it is a bewildering voice-activated call tree that is so bad last time I tried it I just hung up in frustration and did what I thought was right rather than knowing for sure (I think I actually overpaid!). IIRC the tax service was cut very hard indeed so I can’t imagine it is remotely effective at catching tax fraud these days.
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My thoughts too. But I think people that get paid a lot in cash have had a harder time. Got a Pakistani friend and they were all over her restaurant for 2 years.

Racist barstards.

Also a bathroom and kitchen fitter I know has been audited.
 
richgilb said:
My thoughts too. But I think people that get paid a lot in cash have had a harder time. Got a Pakistani friend and they were all over her restaurant for 2 years.

Racist barstards.

Also a bathroom and kitchen fitter I know has been audited.
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Good, if they played a straight game they will be fine. Tony's point about Torysterity and its impact on bodies like HMRC is spot-on and Vuk's original post pretty much seems to fit the pattern in the UK. When money is tight it makes perfect sense to cut back on those that collect it....!?!
 
Snufkin said:
Good, if they played a straight game they will be fine. Tony's point about Torysterity and its impact on bodies like HMRC is spot-on and Vuk's original post pretty much seems to fit the pattern in the UK. When money is tight it makes perfect sense to cut back on those that collect it....!?!
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Not sure two years of aggression is fine. They went in there with a mission to find her cheating, found nothing, got in the way of her running her business, and gave her a nervous breakdown in the process.
 
Snufkin said:
When money is tight it makes perfect sense to cut back on those that collect it....!?!
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I think this is actually far more cynical. The Conservative Party these days is little more than a hollowed out money-laundering entity for tax cheats and offshore fund-managers etc. It appears the whole concept of Brexit was just a ruse to avoid incoming EU tax law that would hit the party’s billionaire backers/owners, so effectively making anyone who could police onshore tax fraud redundant makes total sense from that entirely corrupt mindset. It is all very deliberate and my suspicion is these days as long as you aren’t claiming any benefits (Working Tax Credit or whatever) they pretty much leave you alone. I’m one of the dumb honest ones as I do actually believe in state infrastructure! I even pay my bill as soon as possible as I’m so debt adverse, I’m always settled up well before the end of April!
 
richgilb said:
Not sure two years of aggression is fine. They went in there with a mission to find her cheating, found nothing, got in the way of her running her business, and gave her a nervous breakdown in the process.
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I agree, that sounds extraordinarily aggressive. Is it possible that the tax authorities were being falsely 'tipped off' by a rival business? Another problem for that sector is employing staff with questionable rights to work in the UK which can result in some serious examination of their business by the authorities..
 
Snufkin said:
I agree, that sounds extraordinarily aggressive. Is it possible that the tax authorities were being falsely 'tipped off' by a rival business? Another problem for that sector is employing staff with questionable rights to work in the UK which can result in some serious examination of their business by the authorities..
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She believes so.
 
Tony L said:
I’ve never been audited yet, though have certainly noticed the ability to easily get through to them with a question is long gone. A few years back the phone was pretty much immediately answered by someone genuinely helpful and knowledgeable, now it is a bewildering voice-activated call tree
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similar situation in canada.
 
richgilb said:
Not sure two years of aggression is fine. They went in there with a mission to find her cheating, found nothing, got in the way of her running her business, and gave her a nervous breakdown in the process.
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We pay about £125 annually for a policy to cover accounting fees for tax investigations; takes all the stress away.

I've had three VAT and two tax investigations with few problems; actually underreclaimed VAT on one.
 
dweezil said:
We pay about £125 annually for a policy to cover accounting fees for tax investigations; takes all the stress away.

I've had three VAT and two tax investigations with few problems; actually underreclaimed VAT on one.
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Great cover. Is that a common thing?
Totally unacceptable that it needs to exist though.

5 interventions over how many years?
 
richgilb said:
Not sure two years of aggression is fine. They went in there with a mission to find her cheating, found nothing, got in the way of her running her business, and gave her a nervous breakdown in the process.
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amazing that you were privy to the reasons for the tax inspectors’ actions.
 
Related to this is the tax rate people pay.

https://twitter.com/DLeonhardt/status/1181004566088814594

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/06/opinion/income-tax-rate-wealthy.html

From the second link —

Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy.

His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system. In the end, the expert consensus was that, whatever Buffett’s specific situation, most wealthy Americans did not actually pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. “Is it the norm?” the fact-checking outfit Politifact asked. “No.”

Time for an update: It’s the norm now.

For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans last year paid a lower total tax rate — spanning federal, state and local taxes — than any other income group, according to newly released data.
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This must be the end of the American carnage Trump spoke about, the carnage on the super wealthy.

Joe
 
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