morphie:
im a so called victim of think accounting or more of an unwitting victim…im slowly paying hmrc as my bill wasnt as big as some of the lads i worked with but i had it so i guess i must pay it but i certainly didnt go into it thinking i was “dodging tax”i was made redundant from a 16yr job. as part of the redundancy talks our union at the time got some agencys together and held a night to "help " the 80 or so drivers out . at these meetings every agency there pushed the think accounting way as being the future and oh how good it is you must do it. I / We as drivers went into it blindly under all this “advise” we were given. i had no idea about all the ins and outs of what was invloved. i just wanted to work and pay the bills and as this was “recommended” thats what most of us did very naievely as it turned out. we certainly didnt set out to dodge tax etc. Not all people are like that maybe some but not all.
i understand now how it works and all a bit late am paying it back as said before mine is a pretty small ammount compared to some of the lads i worked with who are in it for over 20 grand.
An absolute classic example here of how this piece of legislation is totally unfair.
We have the Agencies, the Union and Think Accounting pushing what was a total breach of the MSC legislation at the Drivers. Its a fact that Think and the Agencies, (there is one particular Agency which I shall not name but has been mentioned already), that seemed to have been in bed with Think Accounting, both knew of MSC legislation.
Yes, the Driver’s had the choice to say yes or no, but why would they suspect anything, MSC, in the main was unheard of, at least by the man in the street. Im not aware of when the poster started using Think, but Think were aware of the MSC Legislation as far back as Sept 2011, but carried on taking money off people.
When it comes to the usual, “Driver’s deserve it they were tax dodgers”.
Fact, there are thousands of Ltd Co Drivers acting as contractors driving other firms trucks, if this is not allowed then why don’t HMRC close them down? I’m pretty sure you can set up a Ltd Co doing just about anything.
Fact, the only reason why the Drivers have fallen foul of MSC is that HMRC are saying that because Think were classed as a “provider” then those companies that used Think were not being run correctly, so the Ltd Driver was deemed to be employed, so therefore received a large extra bill for 2 lots of NI, 1 as employer NI and 1 as employee NI, and a slightly higher Income tax bill.
Fact, had the Drivers not used Think,and used any other Accountant, then they would have been able to claim just as many expenses as they did with Think without a squeak from HMRC. HMRC set the rules on expenses. It was Think that were breaking the rules.
Fact, had HMRC got their fingers out when they knew of Thinks wrong doings then no one would now be in receipt of large bills, but there again, HMRC like to issue large bills and dont mind taking tax off a bent Accountancy Company, whilst they took 3 years to make a decision, just picture it, by delaying their decision they kept revenues coming in from Think, they kept Thinks employees in a job therefore not claiming benefits and they allowed unsuspecting Drivers to be landed massive bills years down the line from when they could have put a stop to it, ie by shutting Think down in 2011/2012.
Fact, the bills are based on a joint and several basis, which means HMRC go firstly for the Drivers co, when that cant pay they go after the Director, then after Think, then after Thinks Directors then even as far back as the Agency. YES this legislation allows collection from the personal wealth of Directors of Ltd Cos which is totally unique in company law.
If the Drivers are classed as tax avoiders, then why are HMRC able to persue others…Answer beacause HMRC want money and will get it however they can and from whoever they can. If the Driver was a tax dodger then the bill would stay with him.
however the point remains that at many times we delegate certain matters to other professions because of our lack of knowledge therefore, we are entitled to protection from the law when these rogues surface and that’s how it should be. On R4 this week there was a short history program about a pyramid selling scheme that brought anarchy to Albania. The whole country was taken in at every level of society.