HM Revenue & Customs warns that a growing scheme falsely claims personal IOUs can be used to settle tax bills. HMRC reports a sharp increase in attempts to discharge PAYE and other liabilities using so-called Bills of Exchange, often marketed by promoters connected to recruitment and payroll. HMRC states it does not accept Bills of Exchange against a tax liability and that it will not accept them. A Bill of Exchange is a Victorian commercial instrument requiring payment by one party to another or to a third party, but the recipient has no legal obligation to accept it. HMRC warns that Organised Crime Groups are particularly active in the temporary labour space where these arrangements are aggressively pitched.
"HMRC has fired a fresh warning shot at Britain's flexible workforce, urging an estimated 700,000 umbrella workers, and the agencies and end-clients that engage them, to steer well clear of a rapidly growing scheme that claims, falsely, that personal IOUs can be used to settle a tax bill."
"In a formal issue briefing published this month, the tax authority confirmed it has seen a sharp uptick in attempts to discharge PAYE and other liabilities using so-called 'Bills of Exchange'. Promoters, many of them linked to the recruitment and payroll sectors, are marketing the arrangements as a legitimate, and in some cases, brazenly, as a government-endorsed, route to wiping out a tax debt."
""HMRC does not accept Bills of Exchange against a tax liability," the department said bluntly, adding that Organised Crime Groups are "particularly active" in the temporary labour space where the schemes are being aggressively pitched."
"Crucially, even a properly drafted Bill carries no obligation on the recipient to accept it as payment. As HMRC reminds anyone tempted to try, "the recipient has no legal obligation to accept it". The tax authority has made clear that it will not - and never has - accept a Bill of Exchange against a tax liability."
Read at Business Matters
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]