Anyway, the HMRC stuff touched a nerve and I dropped Dennis an email. He suggested I share it with you, so here goes:

“Dennis,

Re HMRC interventions.

I’m just a humble taxpayer but it pisses me off when my accountant sends his annual ‘insure yourself against our costs if you’re investigated’ letters. ‘They could be substantial’. In other words try to frighten me into spending a goodly chunk of already limited profit. I may be insane, but I refuse to pay.”

To which, let me add:

My accounts are so ridiculously simple, I cannot believe I would have to pay substantial fees to explain them to HMRC. I have always played it straight – paid high taxes in the good years and less in the bad.

The good years came before I started resenting the way my taxes were spent. At the time, I felt very fortunate to be able to return a chunk of my income to the common good. Now I just feel obliged to cough up, with some irritation.

Anyway, my point was that I resent getting what must be a standard letter which tries to frighten me into buying insurance.