Plumbers Tax Safe Plan

Newsletter issue - April 2011.

The Taxman has launched a new tax disclosure opportunity called the Plumbers Tax Safe Plan (PTSP). It is aimed at plumbers and heating engineers who have not fully disclosed all of their income on their tax returns in the past. However, anyone in any trade or profession can use this disclosure opportunity to make a full disclosure of previously undeclared income to the Tax Office.

If you use the PTSP disclosure opportunity to declare unpaid tax, you will be charged a low penalty on the tax due. If you delay and are later found out by the Taxman the penalty could be as high as 100% of the tax due, or 200% if funds have been hidden off-shore. You will also be subject to a full tax investigation and possibly charges under criminal law.

To take advantage of the PTSP you need to fully disclose all your additional tax liabilities by 31 August 2011, and pay all the tax, interest due on late paid tax, and penalties by that date as well. To start the PTSP process you must first notify HMRC by 31 May 2011 that you wish to disclose. We can help you do this and HMRC will respond with a disclosure reference number.

You will need the disclosure reference number to complete the PTSP disclosure form, which can be done online or by using a PDF of the form downloaded from the HMRC website. Most taxpayers will need some help with this disclosure form as the tax, interest and penalties all need to be calculated. It is up to you to decide which penalty rate should apply to your tax errors under the PTSP:

• Innocent mistakes have zero penalty;
• Careless errors attract 10% penalty; and
• Deliberate errors attract 20% penalty.

Think very carefully before admitting to a deliberate error, as this could lead to very strict sanctions in future.

If you think you will not be found out by the HMRC investigators, consider the information HMRC can collect from other sources. To back-up this PTSP scheme HMRC have obtained information concerning plumbers and heating engineers from the Gas Safe Register (formerly CORGI registered). They have cross-referenced this information to advertising directories to work out who was trading as a plumber or heating engineer but were not registered with HMRC.

If you would like some assistance in making a full disclosure of unpaid tax, or know someone who does need help, please contact us as soon as possible.