Anti Tax Man

An amusing idea was raised recently on The Magic Circle discussion forum (Yes - I'm a member although I don't perform as often as I used to; it's my age you know!)

We all make things vanish, transpose, appear, transform etc on a daily basis. What if you woke up one day & found you really could do this stuff? Maybe after being bitten by a radioactive magic rabbit?

No props, no gimmicks, just real magical powers

Would you simply become the worlds greatest magician? Or don a colourful costume & save the world from injustice?

If you chose the latter & became a super hero - what would you call yourself?

I thought I'd become 'Anti Tax Man'. Well, I couldn't call myself, SuperTaxMan could I?

Any better suggestions? Please add them by way of comments on this thread or by email.

Tax fees condom

This was almost the description ascribed to CCH new Premier Protection policy at its public launch last week.

I say 'almost' as nobody did quite describe the policy in this way. But Marketing Manager, Tori Moreton was hobbling around with her leg in a plaster cast. She explained that when it rained she had to wear what she described as a 'legdom' - which apparently is a tight rubber sleeve of some sort that keeps the water out and the plaster dry.

I can't recall who suggested that the new tax fee protection policy was a bit like a condom too!

Did the 2007/08 tax year end on Friday 4th or Monday 7th April?

The last day of fiscal year 2007/08 was Saturday 5 April and the first day of 2008/09 was Sunday 6 April.

Does it matter?

Well I recently heard an accountant talking about how it could be very relevant to one his clients who is affected by the new remittance basis rules. The client was planning to avoid making any remittances to the UK in 2008/09. He arranged his last remittance on Friday 4 April 2008.

However, although he instructed his bank to make the remittance on the Friday, and the money left his US bank account that afternoon, it did not arrive in his UK bank account until Monday 7 April.

Was it remitted on the 4th (in 2007/08) or on the 7th (in 2008/09) when it was received?

The sum involved was substantial. Would you credit it?!

Debt, debt, glorious debt,

Debt, debt, glorious debt,
Nothing quite like it for making you sweat,
so borrow and borrow, like there’s no tomorrow
and there we will wallow in glorious debt.

Thanks to Richard Murphy for highlighting this (which is apparently taken from Living Economy in NZ)

Apologies to Flanders and Swann and the hippopotamus!

Death is a serious business

Just before the start of a recent session of Matthew Huttons' excellent Monthly Tax Reviews (MTR), a discussion ensued as to the different names that some firms had for their Estate Planning teams.

One lady said that her group were called 'The Wills Girls' (or was that 'Willing'?).

My favourite though was the lady who said that her partners referred to her team as 'The Deads'. She also made a follow up comment that I didn't quite catch about her husband's view of this description. I'd best not speculate as to what he might have said!

I'd be grateful for further suggestions of unusual names for such teams, by way of comments on this thread or by email.

"From tax to taxidermy"

I saw this used to description the range of expertise that would be addressed in a new top quality business/lifestyle magazine:
4 Community.

I'm afraid I could see the connection immediately - just what most people want to do with the taxman. Stuff him!

Why is HMRC so keen on electronic filing?

This may be apocryphal of course but an ex member of HMRC staff told one of his friends that the reason should be obvious to us all.

If all returns were filed online it wouldn't be possible for HMRC to lose them - as still apparently happens with paper based returns (and CDs!)