Important Lesson to Learn – HMRC Are Evil Bastards

I always knew this to be true, and following ridiculous cases that HMRC take to court reinforces my opinion on a fairly regular basis.

They have just won a case at First Tier Tribunal against a taxpayer who missed paying his tax whilst suffering from a terminal brain tumour.

Unable to work because of his condition, he was unable to pay his taxes.  The Revenue computer charged penalties.  The taxpayer alerted HMRC to his condition and must have thought he would be afforded some sympathy.  That was his first mistake.  His second mistake was thinking that he would find another human being to be his ally at Tribunal.  Sometimes, tax tribunals can only rule on points of law, and this is what they did.  The penalties stand.

So, HMRC not only made penalties stand against a dying man, they went to court to enforce their position against him.  They don’t have to go to court.  They do that to create a precedent that all such future cases will go in their favour.  It wouldn’t have been seen to have been giving in if they allowed a dying man off his penalties for missing a payment when he was in the midst of his terminal illness.  Well, that’s what I think, but then… I have a heart.  The court process costs public money and probably causes stressful harm to the taxpayer’s physical condition.

The thing is, HMRC will never change.  No-one can stop them.  Whenever people raise questions about their ethics (MP’s included), they hide behind their clever defence of not being able to comment on individual cases.  Well, they passed public comment on this one.  It’s bang in the public domain.  I have read the court transcript.  But if anyone challenged them on this case to stop picking on the little people, the weak and the dying, they would simply say that they cannot comment on individual cases, and therefore they will never change their behaviour.

Anyway, the point of these posts is not to rant.  It is to give a useful tip.  The tip in all of this is not to expect any common sense or reasonableness from HMRC.  In all dealings with them you have to start thinking that the letter of the tax law will be applied to the full in all its black and white glory.  Oh, and don’t expect any sympathy for something as trivial as a brain tumour when it comes to something as important as paying your tax before the penalty deadline.