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In the example you give, Revenue is not the cause of the company collapse. The cause of the collapse is poor cashflow planning. If everyone knows that the councils etc are slow payers, then they need to plan for these in advance. If it is not possible to manage such business in a profitable manner, then walk away - Don't take on the business if it is going to drive you under.
They didn't create the problem. The evaders created the problem.Revenue taking action 16 years or more after they 'created' the problem
Jem tells us that everyone knows that the county councils are slow payers, but all the small business are then surprised when they don't get paid on time by the councils. Now that's astounding! Don't they read their SFA bulletins or speak to their accountants first?Business owners generally don't know such things in advance! Do you think slow payers advertise the fact?
Why? Grabbing business that risks driving your business into ruin would be astounding.Your comment about turning away business astounds me.
There are plenty of cases in which tax defaults can arise as a result of error - mainly to do with errors in misinterpreting tax laws and in failing to follow guidelines to the letter. You can "tut tut" as long as you wish on this score but you only need to read AAM for a short while to understand the depth of confusion and misunderstanding that can arise among genuinely compliant people about their tax obligations. Obviously professional advise can be sought to minimise the risk of inadvertant defaults. However it is not possible for most businesses (esp small firms) to have professionals at hand all the time and even the best professionals in the world can occasionally make mistakes when dealing with complex matters even without ever being negligent in any way. Btw it is not unknown for tax inspectors and enforcement officers to make similiar errors in interpreting and implementing tax rules - except that they dont face any serious consequences when they do err.I find it hard to believe that cases of genuinely 'inadvertant' tax default are a big issue. Surely such cases are a tiny minority? In what kind of circumstances could one evade tax inadvertantly?
I wouldn't disagree with your proposal to reduce the mandatory interest and increase the penalties if I had full trust in a fair application of these penalties - From what I've seen of some high-profile cases (Haughey et al), I don't have this trust today.
First of all they are not ment to be and if you charge them interest as yopu can, then you will not get any more work from them.Jem tells us that everyone knows that the county councils are slow payers, but all the small business are then surprised when they don't get paid on time by the councils.
many, many small businesses are not members of sfa, in fact to a large extent it is well named.And no very few people would talk to their accountants before they took on a sat building an extension to a council house for example.Don't they read their SFA bulletins or speak to their accountants first?
Great idea - Capital punishment for tax evaders. Now why didn't I think of that.Would you use this argument to defend capital punishment?
Here's how you plan. If you don't know IF you're going to get paid, then don't take on the business. Or look for cash up-front? If you don't know WHEN you are going to get paid, then build the cost of borrowing the cash until you get paid into your costs to take on the job.How would you do this? How can you 'plan ahead' when you don't know when you're going to get paid? ,Or even IF you're going to get paid?
Here's how most SME's plan - Ah sure we'll just hold off on the Revenue for a few months and let the state become our bankers.
I was simply going on the assertions of Jem & others that small businesses typically don't have any idea when they are going to get paid when they take on a particular order.
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