There has been much anxiety in the press in recent months over proposals to give HMRC powers to collect money owed directly from people\u2019s bank accounts. The major concern is that HMRC are seen to be appointing themselves as judge, jury and executioner with little if any access to an appeals procedure.<\/p>\n
No right thinking person should doubt that HMRC need robust powers to stop bad people avoiding paying their fair share of tax, but in my experience the vast majority of people who rely the rights of appeal are not bad people. They are far more likely to be ordinary people like you and me with busy lives doing their best to comply with a very complex tax system. My own statistics show that of the small percentage of cases which have led to a formal HMRC enquiry, the majority have been settled without any penalty meaning that HMRC have accepted they are entirely innocent. \u00a0Rarely have I come across a case where penalties have been imposed for behaviour considered to be worse than simply careless.<\/p>\n