9. The final figures are hidden until it’s too late.

This practice was mentioned in point 10 of “What HMRC don’t want you to know” but it’s such a big dirty one I think the practice should be mentioned here too.

The unrepresented taxpayer is led through months or even years of protracted investigation and is then presented with a ‘final figure’ which you are asked to agree to. This figure may appear to be relatively low, let’s say £3k.

And you think, “Fuck this for a game of soldiers! There is no way 3k is accurate – but I’m just going to write a cheque and get these bastards off my back.”

Once you’ve agreed to the 3k the real cost will slowly become clear. The 3k is scaled back over five years (making it 15k) then there is interest (increasing the figure to at least 20k) and then penalties – HMRC will go for about 60 percent – though it’s unlikely they are entitled to go for such a high figure.

So – and this is my point – what starts out as £3k soon becomes £32k. And once you’ve admitted liability for the 3k there is very little anyone can do.