Spring 2005 Newsletter Content Home Sweet Pension Anything To Declare? Death And Taxes His And Hers Oh, Gross! We Didn't Mean It Agassi Wins Time To Go It Could Be Worse... Trivial Pursuit Re: Mortgages A Marriage Made In... Time's Money Show Business Scam Of The Decade? Gift Aid Vat's Hot! Wait For It A Good Buy? Know Your Articles Rights And Wrongs

A Marriage Made In... The Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise go together like ... well, like Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. The two revenue-collecting authorities are being merged, and a large number of jobs are supposed to be trimmed in the process. It's all supposed to happen this year, and no doubt the people at the top of the Revenue are working as hard on getting everything in order as the people lower down are concentrating on the pile of tax returns that arrive at the end of January. It will be tricky to merge together two different organisations with different structures and different interests. Customs are mainly concerned with businesses, while the Revenue deal with individuals as well. Traditionally, Customs officers have known very little about direct taxes, and Revenue officers probably next to nothing about VAT. It's difficult to see how they can cut front-line staff, although perhaps they are hoping to find overlaps in administration. We will be watching closely to see whether the combined department can maintain and improve standards as promised, while trying to save money as ordered. Sometimes it may seem good for the authorities to be inefficient, if it means they forget to ask you for your cash - but overall it's better that they know what they are doing. Fingers crossed. There will no doubt be a considerable amount of information about the merger as it gets closer. One interesting aspect is that Customs officers and tax inspectors currently have quite different powers, and we are assured that these will not be extended - they will not be 'averaged up' to give any officer the best of both sets of powers. They intend to continue to use those powers which traditionally belonged to Customs in relation to Customs matters, and those powers that traditionally belonged to the Revenue in relation to direct taxes. A draft Advice Note setting out the powers of officers of the new department can be found on the internet at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/news/hmrc-powers-rights.pdf.