An excellent article in the financial Times is well worth a read http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7309cb48-e1c5-11e4-8d5b-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Y2pwxGoo HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has already received a huge amount of data about UK residents with Swiss bank accounts. There is an increase of criminal prosecutions. New proposals including a “strict liability” rule a taxpayer could be deemed to have committed a criminal offence without the Crown needing to prove that he deliberately set out to conceal offshore income that is taxable. This Draconian measure can reverse the normal burden of proof. However, if you act quickly you can still make use of the agreement between…
In recent times, you may have noticed the increasing number of foreign doctors practicing as GP’s in the UK. While some people don’t even give this a second thought, many others feel that this is a cause for concern. Are these foreign doctors taking places that rightfully belong to British doctors? Are they going to be able to provide the same quality of care that British doctors can provide? The list of concerns goes on. In this article, we’ll try to clear up some of the misunderstandings and confusion surrounding the debate over foreign doctors working in the UK, and…
According to a recently published survey, it is claimed that 66 per cent of UK consumers are concerned about housing benefit fraud. Really? Are we supposed to believe that two-thirds of the population are wandering around constantly thinking about this issue? If that actually is true, then that is a much more serious problem than housing fraud! I am reminded of a humorous incident where a news reporter was interviewing a racing car driver and he asked the question “Aren’t you worried you could get killed?” And the driver replies: “Well, I wasn’t until you mentioned it!” That’s the…
It’s never too late to make a fresh start, so the saying goes, and one man who has certainly taken that message to heart is octogenarian actor, Ed Asner. At the ripe old age of 85, he has finally gotten around to divorcing his wife Cindy. It may be worth pointing out the irony of the fact that Ed’s most recent starring role was in the animated movie Up! in which he played the part of Carl Fredrickson – a man so deeply in love with his wife that he defies not only his local council but even the laws…
Whilst researching one of our weekly blog posts for the Hylton-Potts blog, we happened across an interesting infographic about the divorce rates for people aged over 60. So we thought we would share them here as we found the information quite interesting. Of course if you have any comments about this infographics, we’d love to hear your thoughts. (Please click the image below to enlarge the inforgraphic) Infographic source: http://www.ons.gov.uk
Whilst researching one of our weekly blog posts for the Hylton-Potts blog, we happened across an interesting infographic about the divorce rates for people in England and Wales in 2012. So we thought we would share them here as we found the information quite interesting. Of course if you have any comments about this infographics, we’d love to hear your thoughts. (Please click the image below to enlarge the inforgraphic) Infographic source: http://www.ons.gov.uk
Organised crime has always had a deep and binding love affair with tax collectors around the world, but up until this year the affair was always one-sided. But all that seems to have changed now due to a move by HMRC that has opened up the field a lot in favour of both HMRC and the scammers. We can’t say it was intentional, but certainly any action that confuses taxpayers will be to the benefit of HMRC. When it is a case of informing you of an allowance or rebate you may be entitled to, then if you don’t understand…
What sort of behaviour would you expect to see from a benefit fraud investigator? If you’re lucky enough to never have had the experience of being investigated for your benefit claims, then you may be thinking of an impartial professional, patiently sifting through facts, collecting statements from witnesses, and then forming conclusions based on a careful analysis of all the available data. For the most part this is still likely to be true with many fraud investigators showing honesty and integrity to use these time-proven methods to unearth the facts in the case and rule one way or the other.…
In family and employment work, small claims, housing and building disputes consumer claims, there is huge scope for unbundling. This means that the lawyer is not instructed privately, on the basis of a traditional full service retainer but just brought in as required. The client remains a litigant in person and seeks expert advice as required. That advice should include helping the client to keep those actual costs down. 1 What is the issue? Many of us are unlikely to be able to afford to instruct a lawyer privately on the basis of a traditional full service retainer. They may,…
Nobody ever likes to receive a letter or phone call from somebody claiming to represent HMRC, especially if the tone suggests that you have been cheating. You probably already know the feeling – your heart rate increases, your mouth goes dry, and perhaps your hand begins to tremble as you struggle with the conflicting emotions of shock and outrage. In fact, the emotion of the moment often causes people to react first and think later, which can backfire drastically. In fact, it is one of the worst things you can possibly do. “That’s not my concern!” What must be kept…
