HMRC ANNOUNCE THE PLUMBERS TAX SAFE PLAN
8 March 2011 HM Revenue and Customs have announced an amnesty to encourage people who haven’t paid the right amount of tax to come clean and escape high penalties. The Plumbers Tax Safe Plan is designed for people working within the plumbing industry who have not told HMRC about all of their income in the past and who now want to get back on track. HMRC warn that once the amnesty period is over, they want to follow up people who still choose not to pay the right amount of tax and penalties will be much higher. It follows a successful amnesty held recently for doctors and dentists. Clare Jady, a partner at Wigan Chartered Accountants, P A Hull & Co says that although the scheme is aimed at plumbers, it can be used by anyone who is keen to make a voluntary disclosure of tax due. “The Revenue have always looked much more kindly on people who voluntarily come clean than where HMRC have found the error and this is reflected in the lower rate of penalties charged. It means that if you know there’s a problem, it’s always better and less expensive to sort it out quickly. That applies whether or not there’s a scheme like this in place” The scheme can be used where people have deliberately underdeclared income as well as where people have made innocent mistakes or have just forgotten to register their business with HMRC. To take advantage of the scheme, taxpayers must notify HMRC online, by phone or post by 31 May of their intention to take part in the scheme. Then taxpayers have until 31 August 2011 to disclose and pay the missing tax. Anyone affected should consult us so that we can help make sure that allowances and business expenses are deducted before calculating what tax is due. We can be contacted using any of the details on this site.
|