A joint CIOT and LITRG response. We agree that something needs to be done to reduce the levels of fraud and abuse but not at the expense of the policy rationale – to mitigate the additional cost to people with disabilities of adapting motor vehicles for their use, not impose additional burdens on those genuinely entitled to relief. ...
LITRG broadly welcomes the reforms proposed and explored in the four consultation documents concerning employee benefits and expenses and the fact that the Government and HMRC are looking at these issues simultaneously. In respect of all four consultations, we call on HMRC to undertake more work to explore the impact of the proposals on claimants on tax credits, Universal Credit and welfare benefi...
The LITRG are pleased to respond to HMT’s Call for Evidence on current remuneration practices, which stems from the OTS's Expenses and Benefits report. In our response we stress that despite the lack of complexity in low paid workers’ ‘packages’, there are still some ‘difficult’ aspects of their remuneration and make a number of recommendations for change. We hope that these may eventually lead to...
The LITRG are disappointed that proposals which are intended to help HMRC better manage their service actually appear to remove basic rights from taxpayers. Failure to inform taxpayers of their current PAYE Code via a written notice means that they (and those helping them) may not have sufficient information to understand and query their tax position. This could lead to incorrect tax deductions. R...
While the LITRG supports HMRC’s existing power to satisfy a debt by taking money from a debtor’s bank account under the supervision of a judge, the current proposals to allow HMRC to bypass the courts in order to collect tax and tax credit debt would be contrary to the rule of law and would inflict disproportionate financial and human cost on vulnerable taxpayers. ...
While the LITRG welcomes any attempt to create an unbiased and transparent system for identifying and guaranteeing appropriate guidance for those about to retire under the proposed new rules for 2015 onwards. However, we are disappointed that the response to the 2014 Budget from the Money Advice Service (MAS) seems to offer no commitment to retirees by way of an 'easy-to-access, free-of-charge bes...