2012's biggest tax cheats named and shamed

HMRC staff have no power, no knowledge and no responsibility! There is no consistent and cohesive working practice any more. I left HMRC because I was tired of shuffling pieces of paper for statistics to look good. If you write a letter and (because HMRC has so much post on hand, it will probably take over a month before they can even look at it) the person who picks it up has to see what you want and if possible, answer your query or solve your problem. If you get tired of waiting for an answer, then write again, they'll not link up the two bits of correspondence and the second person will ask you via letter what you want!!! Who is responsible for all these delays? No one! There is a no-blame culture in the new HMRC. This ping-pong game can go on and on. I was trained to work whole cases and take responsibility for my work. I managed 6000 tax payers (now called 'clients') myself, and I was the junior-most staff member! I had a bunch of employers and dealt with their employees, their employer returns for PAYE, benefits in kind, allowance claims, etc. without any problems. However, being a big fan of "if it is working really well, break it" HMRC brought in centralized working, which took away all the responsibility and authority from trained staff and put it in the hands of call-centre idiots who are put on the job after minimal training. After 20 years, I left with a reduced pension of only £200 per month, and am happy to be gone. HMRC is a terrible place to work for these days. HMRC have lost my 2010 tax return 3 times. I complained, but never got anywhere, and to add insult to injury they sent me a letter saying that my 2011 tax return was lost as well, but that if I didn't send a duplicate immediately they would have to treat it as a late tax return and fine me! What can you do? I seriously doubt that these task forces are really effective. At best they'll be semi-trained recovery officers, at worst they will be bullies with bailiff-like authority to enter, search and take away. May God save us from the new HMRC.

The word you are looking for is "dictat"

Problem with all this is the HMRC staff have far too much power, power thats been pre-rigged in their favour. So it follows everything they issue is pre-loaded with hundreds of pounds worth of threats and fines etc. if, for what ever reason we don't drop everything when they demand it, roll over and give in instantly. The HMRC work on the basis we are one, while they are a gang of thousands. Like rat catchers they corner us, once their they won't let go until we give in and pay what ever they demand. Often what they demand is overloaded in their favour, but so what. The HMRC offer little to no help other than scam 0870 & 0845 self help tape recorders for us to try and work our way through. Ultimately it is us, not the HMRC that has the cost of paying someone to claim back what ever has been charged. So it continues........ This country is supposed to be ruled by consent not dictate. I for one don't recall see fines penalties etc etc. in any manifesto as a plan to be adopted once a given party has been elected. I know for a clear fact, I for one, never agreed to fines or penalties. Yet this bunch of pin stripe dictators think they have the consent of the people, to rob & fine us left right and centre. What ever, I know at the least I never consented to or, agreed to being spoken to like a piece of sh*t by these HMRC scum bags, people who's wages, sick days, holidays, perks and early pensions I'm forced to contribute towards. So who did consent to all this? Thats the big question andf the sooner its answered the better. If not, maybe someone can confirm we now do, live in a dictatorship. In the meantime, assuming it is still consent we are ruled by, what we need is people to stand up and say enough, is enough, stop all of this crap today. Lets have one big bonfire on News at 10 lets watch as thousands burn their tax returns in disgust at the way we are treated by these scum bags.