Self Assessment worries dog the new year 2017

03JanJanuary 3, 2017 By Adrian Huston

January tax help.

Firstly I hope all our readers and clients have a Prosperous 2017, not held back by Self Assessment worries.

As is so common after Christmas, we are getting loads of calls from new clients. People are keen to sort out their taxes. I think Christmas focuses the minds. People have time off at home. They have chats with spouses and family. They realise all is not well.

Self Assessment Tax Returns having been around for 20 years now. Despite this the 31 January date still creeps up and bites people every year – though the penalties are now nastier.

VIDEO – on similar content to this – see here

Why might you call Huston & Co?

You have income to declare and have not yet registered with HMRC
You are registered and realise there is not long left until the 31 January filing deadline, and want help with the Self-Assessment form.
There is a confession to be made to HMRC covering a number of years, and you want us in your corner against HMRC
You just want a chat or a review and can get that for an hourly consultation, by phone or in person.
You live or work overseas and want our specialist help with UK rents or overseas earnings.

Some people phone having seen my free tax videos on YouTube ( www.YouTube.com/HustonTV ). I am delighted that these have been viewed well over 80,000 times.

Self Assessment

We can get your Self Assessment return filed before the deadline even late in January. Also, in the early part of the month we can still get you registered with HMRC in time too!

Call Adrian Huston or Felicity Huston on 028 9080 6080 for a chat and a price to help you out. View the video for this post here

We are both quite approachable, despite both having been Tax Inspectors before we crossed the floor!

Contact HMRC – 10 tips to do it right

14JunApril 26, 2018 By Adrian Huston

22 years in our tax practice has taught me a few things about effective communication with my former colleagues in HMRC. It has also left me almost bald, from tearing my hair out when contact goes wrong. So let me make things easier for you.

Recently I had an unsatisfactory call to an HMRC officer, and what happened when I asked for the supervisor beggared belief! I was so shocked that I obtained the recording of the exchange (for how, see later) and posted it on YouTube. Suggest you listen from 5:05 on the following link http://tinyurl.com/HMRC-hangsup

So from years of experience here are 10 tips to having an effective contact with HMRC.

1. NERVOUS ON PHONE? THEN WRITE. If you are nervous on the phone to the government, or might get flustered, then writing might be easier. Then you have time to digest their written response. Or show it to a friend. Put your National Insurance number on the letter and write to the office which contacted you recently, otherwise to:

HM Revenue & Customs
Pay As You Earn
PO Box 1970
Liverpool
L75 1WX

I still write to HMRC to sort a lot of things out. My copy is a record of what was said, when and where I sent it.

2. PHONING HMRC. They are open 8 to 8 weekdays and 8 to 4pm on Saturdays. Call them on 0300 200 0300. If you can avoid the lunch hour and just after 9am you will find the waiting time on the phone shorter. Try calling at 815am, in the evening, or Saturday. ALWAYS, but always, write down the time and date of the call. Then the name of the person you spoke to, then what was agreed would happen.

3. EMAIL? HMRC is still very nervous about email and they don't publish email addresses for contacting them. Having said that they do have an email service for telling them a change of name or address. It is at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/change-of-circs.htm

If your tax code for the present year may be wrong then you can contact them by email on http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/email-taxcode-wrong.htm

Take a screenprint BEFORE you hit submit, because after that you just get a message saying we have your message. No reference number, no proof of what you said.

4. ACCOUNTANTS – AGENT PRIORITY NUMBER – accountants and tax consultants can use a special number to contact HMRC which means they will rarely sit in a queue. I won't publish it here, because if a member of the public uses it they will not get helped.

5. GET A RECORDING OF YOUR CALL? If you think HMRC didn't do what they promised, or an officer behaved badly, then you may be able to get an audio recording of the whole call. This is free and is done under Freedom of Information. You will need to know the number you phoned and the date and time. The application is easy and is at http://tinyurl.com/HMRC-FOI When I applied this way the reply and CD was back inside two weeks – impressive.

6. WHEN NOTHING IS DONE? If you ring HMRC and nothing is done within say 3 weeks of the call, then consider a complaint. If you wrote a letter then best allow 5 weeks before complaining. Sometimes phoning to ask what's happening can work, but I tend to favour a written complaint. Mark the top of the letter COMPLAINT. Details on complaints at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/complaints-appeals/how-to-complain/make-complaint.htm If you still have problems then complain to your MP at:

House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

MPs get a priority service which often helps resolve things.

7. CAN AN ACCOUNTANT COMPLAIN FOR ME? Yes, and, once a second attempt to get HMRC to sort something has failed, they have a special service to use. It is called the Agents' Issue Resolution Service. I have had mixed results using this service, but your accountant should give it a go. They may not know about it.

8. COMPLAINING ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Increasingly people make complaints about companies and organisations via social media. Twitter can be good as someone in the PR department often monitors tweets which paint the organisation in a bad light. I have seen no sign of this causing HMRC to spring into life, but if you want a go then mention in your tweet @HMRCgovUK If you have a juicy case of incompetence, or hardship caused, you could always contact the national press, like the Daily Mail or BBC Radio 4's Money Box.

9. CAN I JUST CALL IN AT THE TAX OFFICE? No. In its drive to 'improve' customer service, HMRC has closed all its public enquiry offices! Yes, it's hard to believe. HMRC says that in some (probably extreme) cases they may do house calls. I reckon you would need to be very elderly or very infirm, but if you would like a home visit then ask them.

10. HOW DOES HMRC WANT ME TO CONTACT THEM? Really they want everyone to get their tax information from the website www.hrmc.go.uk And where that's not enough they want you to phone. They would prefer not to receive letters – but don't let that put you off sending one!

Don't be scared of contacting HMRC. They genuinely do want to help, and most things can be sorted first time around. My tips above also show what to do if things go wrong.

Adrian Huston, a former Tax Inspector, is a director of tax consultancy Huston & Co, www.Huston.co.uk or 028 9080 6080. Twitter @HustonTax

10 step guide to fraud protection

13DecApril 26, 2018 By Adrian Huston

10 step guide to fraud protection

I recently met convicted fraudster Elliot Castro at a fascinating event run by the Northern Ireland Fraud Academy. Suppress that yawn – having a convicted fraudster on the platform answering our questions was far from dull.

The book of his life of crime (before he went to jail) is a good read. “Other People’s Money: The Rise and Fall of Britain’s Boldest Credit Card Fraudster” was written by Neil Forsyth & Elliot Castro.

Just like the wonderful Leonardo DiCaprio film about the real life con-man (“Catch me if you can”) Scottish Elliot Castro travelled the World on £2 million of other people’s money. In Elliot’s case credit card details obtained in a number of ways. Also on the platform were Jonathan Wilson, Head of Special Investigations at the bank AIB plc, and Charlie McMurdie – the woman who was until recently the Met’s Head of Cyber Crime. So we had former fraudster, victim and enforcer all there together.

Inspired by the talk, and aware from clients and daily professional life how easy it is to be conned, I have pulled together my top ten tips to help keep you safe from fraud. Further detail on each is after number 10.

Don’t regard a high credit limit on your card as a badge of honour.
Be careful what you share on social media.
Your friend is NOT stranded abroad in need of your help
When someone rings you, how do you know who they are?
Phishing – be very careful what links you click in emails
Online purchases – use just one card
If someone phones you and says there is a problem with your card – they may be a crook.
Online shopping in public wifi zones is risky.
Make a bit more effort with passwords
Be less trusting

Now I will go into why I gave these 10 tips.

Don’t regard a high credit limit on your card as a badge of honour. If the limit is £10,000 and you never go over £2,000, then ask your card company to reduce your card limit. I do this. That way if a crook tries to book a business class flight to Cape Town costing £3,500 the purchase will fail.
Be careful what you share on social media. I knew posting that I am on holiday could let burglars know to call at my house. What I didn’t think of was that Elliot Castro would use these times to phone your office and speak to a PA or colleague and persuade them to give him some useful information, like a mobile phone number etc.
Your friend is NOT stranded abroad in need of your help. If you get an email from a known contact saying they are in some far-flung place stuck with no money for an emergency operation/ flight home/ hotel bill, its 99.9% sure to be fake. I get one of these every month or so ‘from’ a friend or client. Nearly always they have had their BT email address hacked. Having a BT email myself I see regular things popping up on my phone or in emails tempting me to log in. Don’t do it. Once they have your email and password they can hack your email. And if you use part of that password in other sites your whole online life may be upset.
When someone rings you, how do you know who they are? Just because they say they are from your bank, don’t divulge to them any of your security details. For example if they ask for letters 1 and 3 of your password, then in a month’s time ring and ask for letters 2 and 4…you can see how they could build up a picture! Elliot would sometimes work for weeks on a person’s case before he actually tried to use their money. If someone is from your bank you should be able to ring back on their published phone number (not the one the person gives you!) and speak to someone.
Phishing – be very careful what links you click in emails. These emails are getting very sophisticated. For example HMRC will NEVER email you about a tax refund or tax bill to be paid. It is easy to be drawn into clicking a link and ending up in a fake website where you then put in your banking details, and overnight become very poor. Always go to your online bank by either following a ‘bookmark’ on your computer or typing from fresh the web address you already know. Those extra seconds could save you a fortune.
Online purchases – use just one card. The ex-detective advised that you keep just one credit card which you use for online purchases. Don’t use the others. Maybe also keep a low but suitable credit limit on it.
If someone phones you (say when you are in your hotel room) and says there is a problem with your card – they may be a crook. This was one of Elliot Castro’s techniques. Ring up and say the card they checked in with has a problem, and Bingo – the guest gives you all their card details!
Online shopping in public wifi zones is risky. The ex-detective warned that you could be attached to a proxy wifi-zone. In other words it looks legit but is taking a note as you browse of all your log-ins, passwords and card details – perhaps while you buy that fraud book by Elliot Castro on Amazon!.
Make a bit more effort with passwords. Put an odd character in the middle. Instead of piggy1474runs try pi6%ggy1474runs. Avoid using things people might find like your date of birth, your child’s name or your current pet. (Imagine the Facebook post – ‘look here’s a snap of wee Spot after he came back neutered & sad from the vet.’ Crook guesses password Spot2013 )
Be less trusting. Just because you hear a call centre in the background, it might just be a recording. If the girl calling you interrupts to ask her ‘colleague’ to “Get the porter to collect those bags” this does not confirm the girl works in your hotel. It just makes the call to you sound legit!

And finally I am sure you are wondering why Elliot Castro flew back to Belfast (where he once lived) to talk about his life before jail. The answer is that he has turned his life around and now advises the police and lots of blue-chip companies about how businesses can beef up their security and prevent the fraudster making off their or their customers’ money. I wish him all the best – we need his help.

Adrian Huston, a former tax inspector, is a director of Belfast tax and accountancy firm Huston & Co – www.huston.co.uk or 028 9080 6080.