Gas safe ? Watch out for the tax man

[Chri5]

My Mrs is a FCCA and she informed me that the tax people are currently offering a tax amnesty for gas plumbers.

Apparently they have been able to access the gas safe cert registers and have been comparing work declared on returns and accounts, to work certified on the gas safe certs.

So if anyone has done silly amounts of cash work with gas safety certs issued and not told the IR watch your back.

 

[namsag]

They would have to call you in first to do that and anyone daft enough to register a boiler that has been charged for without declaring it deserves it.

All computer records leave a trial

There will always be some jobs that are genuinely not charged for but are registered ie family and close friends. Which can be explained

 

[bengasman]

I wonder how much truth there is in that rumour.
Though the tax investigators have some interesting powers, the data on the GSR database still comes under the data protection act.
One of the basic items of that act is the condition that the information is exclusively used for the reasons that lead to the creation of that database, and nothing else.

POTENTIALLY raising tax revenues was certainly not officially a reason to create that database; the reason was improvement of safety.

As it was clear from the beginning that safety was not improved whatsoever, there was a common suspicion in the trade that it was nothing but red tape and/or a means to stop installations for cash.
Nevertheless, even if that was the real reason for GWN, the data protection act prohibits the use of the data for blanket tax investigations.

 

[DP]

By the way, GSR is now required to inform the tax man who is registered as a gas installer. Once again, the non registered are getting away with it.

Folk that use computers know how easy it is to search a word. Look for Joe Soap and all entries are displayed on the screen.

 

[seco services]

So if anyone has done silly amounts of cash work with gas safety certs issued and not told the IR watch your back.

one of my friends got collared for that about yr ago.

 

[bengasman]

By the way, GSR is now required to inform the tax man who is registered as a gas installer.

I don't have a problem with that. I happily agreed to add me to the online display, so it is there for the world to see that I am a gasinstaller.
What pisses me off, is that they are opening a witch hunt in what for most will be the worst year in living memory. Lots of us are down 50% or more in turn over, whilst the overheads are up; no doubt that will look very suspicious to the pencil pushers.

 

[boilerdoktor]

and at the same time...over the last year millions have been paid in benefits to people who weren't entitled to "earn" them...and this has been written off!

 

[Chri5]

I've scanned the article from Accountantcy Age 18th March ed:-

Untitled

• Chri5
• 15 Mar 2011
• 1

When you clcik on image, then click on the 2nd icon rhs (expand image to actual size)- Then you won't need a microscope to read it.

 

[bengasman]

This government may become known as the 10%-club.
10% penalty for tax evaders, 10% off the tax-tariff, and 10% off civics' pay cheque.
I know they could theoretically earn the 10%, but that is about as likely as completely stoichiometric combustion, unless they set the threshold extremely low.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20110315/tuk-earn-back-plan-for-public-sector-6323e80.html

 

[gas4you]

And without any doubt HMRC will have somebody who visits this and other sites as well.

 

[moggridgeplumbing]

And they can probably check who visits this thread but doesn't leave a comment. I'm in, I'll happily add my name - Bring back the scrappage scheme and get us some work, and put confidence back into the market to get people spending again.

 

[Nige F]

and to them I give the finger .... haven`t caught me yet

 

[D_Hailsham]

Though the tax investigators have some interesting powers, the data on the GSR database still comes under the data protection act.
One of the basic items of that act is the condition that the information is exclusively used for the reasons that lead to the creation of that database, and nothing else.

Unfortunately the registration covers disclosure of information to Local and Central Government.

See http://www.ico.gov.uk/ESDWebPages/DoSearch.asp?reg=5022895

 

[silverback18]

All that it will tell the taxman is you installed a boiler, it will not tell them how much you earnt, so I fail to see how this will give them any indication of your income and so what tax liabilities you have, you could of been charging £50.00 to install the boiler, how will they know

 

[D_Hailsham]

All that it will tell the taxman is you installed a boiler, it will not tell them how much you earnt, so I fail to see how this will give them any indication of your income and so what tax liabilities you have, you could of been charging £50.00 to install the boiler, how will they know

The taxman is very good at "estimating" someone's income. They look at where you live and the type of house you own/rent, how big your mortgage is, what car you drive etc, and compare their estimate of how much income you would need to maintain that lifestyle with what you declare on your tax return. If the estimate is more than what you declared, you will get a tax demand based on their estimated income.

It's then up to you to prove, to their satisfaction, that their estimate is wrong!!