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ENFORCEMENT |
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Naming and shaming of tax defaulters See VM ¶3950 HMRC have announced that it will publish the names of both corporate and individual taxpayers: » who are penalised for deliberately understating tax due, overstating claims or losses or more than £25,000; » deliberately fail to notify HMRC when required to do so leading to a loss of tax of more than £25,000; or » are penalised for deliberately committing certain VAT offences leading to a loss of tax of more than £25,000. Names will not be published of those who make a full unprompted disclosure or a full prompted disclosure within the required time. Details will be published quarterly within one year of the penalty becoming final and will remain on HMRC’s website for 12 months. These procedures will take effect from dates yet to be announced. Responsibility of senior accounting officers See TM ¶3950 While companies are statutorily required to make accurate returns they are not required to ensure that adequate systems exist to do so. For returns due to be made after the passing of Finance Act 2009 new rules will apply to large companies and their senior accounting officers personally. Senior accounting officers will be required to: » take reasonable steps to establish and monitor accounting systems to ensure they are adequate for the purposes of tax reporting; and, » certify annually that the systems are adequate or specify the nature of the inadequacies and confirm that these have been notified to the company’s auditors. The company must also advise HMRC of the identity of the senior accounting officer for the company. Penalties for failure will not only be levied on the company but also on the officer concerned, for failure to comply with the above. |