Now that all the hassle is over I took some time to reflect on the pressures applied to business by the Revenue. I know the returns of benefits (forms P11d) have been around for years but so has the old “higher-paid” limit of £8,500. So employers have to fill a form in for anyone paid the minimum wage who receives any benefit at all.
Sure dispensations can help but actually getting one out of the Revenue is not always as easy as one would hope.
Still – everyone is used to it by now so I guess we all just live with it.
The real problem is the new forms 42 – return of share movements, unapproved options and other defined (though I defy you to find it in 15 minutes) “events”!
I know the big city traders were effectively being paid bonuses in shares or as dividends and saving millions in tax but most of my clients weren’t. Of course, they were doing some tax planning but not in that way or on that scale. The Revenue probably did need to do something but is the current system really the answer?
Does creating endless problems and complexity on (generally perfectly innocently intended) transactions in SMEs actually yield a good result if the Revenue had to operate on a cost vs benefit basis? In any case what are they actually doing with the returns that are so carefully submitted – I have yet to receive one query on them – ever! That does sort of imply that someone is collecting them – or even filing them – for future reference rather than current use.
Is it really worth it? Who can persuade the government that more regulation is not the answer – perhaps if you could spend less time filling in forms and worrying about share transfers and more time looking at your business you could do more and pay more tax on profits – surely that would make more sense.
Will anyone listen – frankly I doubt it.
