Star comment: Tax office needs to pay for errors
The taxman has been busy obtaining revenues from Google.
And the multi-national corporation seems to have been pleased that it's been able to reach an agreement with HMRC.
Both were strongly criticised – Google for previously not paying enough tax and the taxman for not being sufficiently robust in collecting it.
Many have criticised HMRC in applying a one-rule-for-one and another-rule-for-another system. And such criticism seems somewhat justified following events at local football clubs.
HMRC has issued a winding up petition against a football club for the second time in last few weeks. In both cases, HMRC dropped the actions after accepting liability for the football clubs' fees. Mistakes were made, simply, that ought not to have been.
It is a farce. The manner in which taxes are collected in the UK is too complicated and ought to be reviewed. There have been huge cuts at our local tax offices, so that it is now almost impossible to contact a tax inspector when it is necessary.
To compound matters, HMRC makes itself look entirely foolish by issuing orders and losing money through unrecoverable fees. If individuals make mistakes with their taxes, they are punished. It seems no such rule exists for HMRC.
