Summer 2009 Newsletter Content Pot and kettle No more stealth Pensions hit A place in the sun Ready or not... Nice motor Making allowances Good times, bad times Tax-free checkup Three square meals Funny question Dividend rules OK? Too good to be true? Pay my friend Early EIS Mind the halfpennies Just the ticket Flat rate changes Foreign Service This year, next year Partial exemption Penalties Compliance checks Under their eye Howzat? Know your rights Discipline Don't be mean Redundancy Two sorts of absence Warranties

Under their eye The Budget included some revolutionary proposals for reducing tax evasion. The idea of publishing the names of people who incur a "deliberate error penalty" on £25,000 of tax seems superficially attractive - after all, should such anti-social behaviour not be named and shamed? But already there are protests that we have moved on from the days when people were put in the stocks (apart from MPs with their expense claims and bankers with their pensions, perhaps), and the human rights of the people concerned might be infringed. Then there is another proposal to impose "close monitoring" on anyone who incur a deliberate error penalty on just £5,000 of tax. This would involve submitting more detailed returns for up to the following 5 years which would enable HMR&C to see exactly what was going on in a business. That would be a nasty punishment - a little like being given lines or detention at school - but it seems unlikely that HMR&C have the personnel to deal with all the extra information. Then there is the proposal that all large companies and large groups of companies will have to appoint a senior accounting officer who will be required to certify that he has taken reasonable steps to establish and monitor accounting systems that will produce reliable tax information, and if there are any problems with the systems, they have been discussed with the auditors. The individual will be personally liable for penalties if the certificate is incorrectly given. Who would sign up for that job? HMR&C quite rightly want to discourage tax evaders, but these are not necessarily measures that will help. If they are not used very carefully, they may do the opposite - for example, the first two may put people off seeing the error of their ways and coming forward to put matters right. There is supposed to be an exemption for making a "full disclosure", but someone with a guilty conscience may not trust that assurance.