August 2008 Archives
The Finance Act 2008 received Royal Assent on 21 July 2008.
As far as complicated legislation goes, this Act takes some beating. Over 400 pages, packed with amendments, repeals, etc. Normally, such an Act would have a Schedule at the end, setting out all the legislation repealed by that Act. This time, the draftsmen did not even bother. So, for the first time that I can recall, the Finance Act does not include a Repeals Schedule. It is therefore impossible to tell, at a glance, what legislation has been repealed by the Act. Frankly astonishing. Even in view of its well-deserved reputation for sloppy and incompetent drafting, this Government has somehow managed to surpass itself.
Reports have it that the taxman is planning another "amnesty" for taxpayers with offshore income.
After the "spectacular success" of the first one, right?
One wonders why the taxman is being so generous. I would have thought that, having obtained so much information about tax-dodgers and their affairs (by means of the EU Savings Directive, court orders, whistleblowers, etc), the taxman would by now have pounced on the fiddling miscreants. But no, instead he seems to want to "help" them get their affairs in order.
Could it just be that, far from being kind, the taxman simply lacks the resources (or perhaps more accurately, the competence), to trace these people and take them to task? Instead of getting his hands dirty doing some proper investigation work, the taxman prefers to sit back and offer an "amnesty", in the hope that those affected would turn up willingly and confess. Surely, by now, a few such taxpayers might be tempted to call the taxman's bluff by sitting tight and saying nothing. A risky move, but looking at the taxman's record of blunders over the past few years, I can see why a taxpayer might well take that gamble.
