It must be one of those days when those who purport to represent business parked their brains at the front door on the way out to the office.
In typical fashion, the moaning minnies are out in force at AccountingWeb about the recent tax ‘amnesty’ issue. Fortunately, Richard Murphy sets the record straight. Unfortunately, Will Heard of Shawtax doesn’t wish to leave it at that:
At no point in this or an earlier article have I asked for sympathy for any tax evader but I have certainly asked for understanding of the human predicament when people are presented with a simple set of rules for these disclosures that ignore the complexity of the tax system and the complexity of people’s lives. These temporary disclosure rules are effectively self assessment for tax evaders. A contradiction in terms so therefore irreconcilable. We will be living with the consequences for years.
This is an idiotic set of statements. Of course Will is trying to whip up sympathy. What other conclusion can you draw from stuff like this:
Yesterday (May 2) I was at a conference attended by about 100 accountants in practice. I mentioned the new HMRC disclosure guidance parameters to three of them. Only one had heard of the HMRC announcement.
Ignorance is bliss so they say but this indicates to me a profession in denial and/or illiterate. For that there can be no sympathy.
What is so difficult to understand about tax evasion? How is this tied to the ‘complexity of life?’ In the tech sector we have an expression for this kind of thing: FUD – Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. In common parlance: BS.
