Tax horror story

Yesterday, I dropped Clare off at school and then made my way to Christchurch Roath Park to celebrate the midweek Eucharist there for the second week running. Although my back was less stiff, if was still painful with certain movements, so I abandoned the idea of returning the car to Clare and going by bus into the office as I did last week. Instead I lay flat on the floor with my head on book and worked on gently lengthening my spine as I learned from my Alexander teacher thirty years ago. When Clare had finished work I fetched her by car. After supper it was study group for her and Tai Chi for me, with my back standing up well to the exercise.

Ashley and I conversed  at length by text message in the afternoon. The finalised CBS accounts had been delivered to him, and approved for submission to Companies' House tomorrow. He was in the course of trying to prove the existence of CBS as a registered trading company to the tax authorites in order to settle our VAT bill - HMRC had failed to register our three previous changes of address and then de-registered us - a consequence of their own administrative chaos following the merger of Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue. Since the last time we paid our dues they have stopped receiving cheques and will only accept electronic payment. You can only register for this by providing proof that you company exists and is trading.

More tax horrors today, and more text messages exchanged with Ashley, as the outcome of registering your annual financial statement at Companies' House is a requirement to pay immediately Corporation Tax that's due - 20% of annual surplus of income over expenditure. Again, this can only be paid for electronically. A completely separate registration process is required to identify the Company and set up an account for it as a payer of Corporation Tax. All the steps were duly followed, but the information Ashley had received from the accountants wouldn't permit him to set up a new account and by the time he had queued for ages and argued on a none too helpful helpline, he learned what was missing it was too late as the accountants had gone home for the weekend.

So, we have money we need to pay the Inland Revenue on two accounts but their system requirements make it hard to do so easily or efficiently. How easy, I wonder, do tax professionals find it? Will it be easier next time, now we know more about how things work? Or will the internal merger lead to changes that confound the end-user?  If you're working hard and struggling get your accounts filed on time it can be a nightmare. If you're unfamiliar with different on-line systems, and if you fail to meet the deadlines imposed, there fines are imposed which eat into your profit margins and weaken your economy. I wonder how much a problem it is to small businesses, and how much it contributes to small business failures?

I couldn't spend long in the office this afternoon to support Ashley, as Eddie and Ann were arriving to spend the weekend with us for the last few days of their holiday in Devon. I had paella to cook for our little family re-union and news catch-up time. We didn't talk about tax, that's for sure!