HMRC Take a Commercial & Pragmatic Decision

Many who read my posts will be surprised when I use the phrases:- “Commercial”, “Pragmatic” and “HMRC” in the same article, let alone the same sentence.  

But today, for once I feel I have no alternative (and it’s not April 1st).

The reason being, I have just heard from a client who incensed that we had to charge him an extra fee arising for having to call an annual meeting for his Members Voluntary Liquidation because HMRC would not even acknowledge our request for tax clearance.  

The client paid our fee and reverted to HMRC to cover what they had paid.  

At the time, I viewed such an approach as a waste of energy (and a stamp). I could see no way that HMRC would do anything else other than adopt their usual practice of obfuscation, blame, avoidance and delay.

But stone the crows!  HMRC have engaged and agreed to pay the additional wasted costs (all be it on a without prejudice basis).        

Additionally, they have confirmed what had been mooted for a number of months; that Members Voluntary Liquidations don’t need formal tax clearance to enable the Liquidator to close the file, but rather the Liquidator should review the previous tax affairs and be able to conclude that nothing looks out of the ordinary.

As you might expect, we are notifying those of our clients who, through reasons mainly of Covid-19 halting the HMRC process of providing tax clearance have incurred additional fees.

I can now announce that Frost Group is returning to our standard where the vast majority of our clients should expect to have their Members Liquidation finalised within nine months.  

Please do get in touch if this is the type and standard of service you are looking for?  My contact details are listed below.

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Jeremy Frost

JeremyF@frostbr.co.uk