The taxman shoots, the taxman scores..

The taxman shoots, the taxman scores..

It’s scary what HMRC knows about YOU

The taxman isn’t stupid. You insult his intelligence if you think putting a few numbers on your tax return gets the job done

HMRC has the ability and, likely, the inclination to dive deeper into your affairs than you ever thought possible. It has something you don’t, a supercomputer, and it even has a name: Connect

Seems Connect believes the best way to track down a fish, is become a fish, so it compares all the information you provide on your tax return, with its own data. It looks for discrepancies, then flags them. Those flags can put you in the frame for a tax investigation, and that’s never fun

Curiously, HMRC doesn’t tell us exactly how Connect operates, but we do know it’s getting cleverer, with the incorporation of AI

It’s method of operation is to gather information from any and every source and there are lots of them, including bank accounts, building societies, online payments, debit and credit cards, crypto, credit reference agencies, etc

Add to that list the Border Agency, Companies House, DWP, Land Registry, Electoral Roll, Council Tax, etc

Connect simply loves social media. It has access to all public your posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc as part of an ongoing investigation

It can check your trading activity on Ebay, Etsy, Gumtree, Vinted and all the others

HMRC is getting even more powers. From January 1^st 2024, all platforms will be required to collect your trading data, and they have a legal obligation to report it to HMRC

That includes Airbnb, which may be a gamechanger for Buy-to-Let landlords

If you’re caught you’ll have to pay the tax due, and penalties. If you need help from our team of Chartered Tax Advisers, book your FREE hour here

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