• Posted 11th March 2015

Health workers were given one week to pay their tax or face taskforce

Workers in the health and well-being professions who have taxable income that they haven’t revealed have one week to pay the tax they owe, or risk HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) taskforce action. Under the Health and Wellbeing Tax Plan, health professionals had until 6 April 2014 to disclose details and pay the tax owed. HMRC is identifying people who fail to use the campaign, but need to catch up and pay what they owe. They could face investigation by an HMRC task-force, which will visit the selected professionals to examine their records and carry out other investigations. The most common kind of investigation would start from a letter requesting more information by a HMRC officer as to what has already been submitted to HMRC on a tax return. After this point the source documents would be requested, i.e. bank statements, invoices, cheque books etc. After this stage an difference will be looked into and can in most cases sorted out via written correspondence via the tax office and the accountant dealing with the inquire on behalf of the tax payer. If the case requires more time and investigation then HMRC can call for a meeting at the local tax office or the accountants office to look into the matter in more detail. The Health and Well-being Tax Plan campaign covers physiotherapists, occupational therapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, chiropodists, podiatrists, homeopaths, dietitians, nutritional therapists, reflexologists, acupuncturists, psychologists, speech, language and art therapists and others. By using the campaign to come forward, any penalty the health workers might have to pay will be lower than if HMRC goes to them first. David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: We have made nearly £1 billion available to HMRC to police the tax rules. Task-forces are making a major contribution to delivering on this commitment by directly intervening where HMRC suspects the rules are being abused. These task-forces have brought in £136 million since 2011, which is tax that would otherwise have gone into the pockets of tax cheats. HMRC’s Jennie Granger, Director General of Enforcement and Compliance, said: Health professionals have been given every opportunity to take advantage of our quick and straightforward way of bringing their tax affairs up to date. We will now use information we hold from third parties and regulatory bodies to identify people who have not paid what they owe. Penalties – or even criminal prosecution – could follow. HMRC gets information about payments made to the health and well-being professions from numerous sources, and uses advanced technological tools to help identify people who have failed to pay the right amount of tax. The Health and Well-being Tax Plan is not aimed at doctors and dentists, who were covered by a previous HMRC campaign. If you have any other questions regarding the above, feel free to contact us on; info@phoenixtaxaccountancy.co.uk Tel: 075 1807 5357 Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.