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anthill mob DMB HMRCs debt collection agency

Government to bring in the heavies!!

The government has launched a new public/private debt collection agency for government departments including HMRC.

Integrated Debt Services Limited (IDS), which is jointly owned by the government and TDX Group (an Equifax company, will provide a single point of access to a wide range of debt management and collection services.

According to the Cabinet Office, the new debt enforcers will use a range of proven and effective debt management services to support debt recovery with a focus on increasing returns, while using detailed analytics so that individuals are treated appropriately and fairly (allegedly!!!). It will provide government with the ability to access private sector knowledge and expertise.

The National Audit Office has said that at least £22bn was owed to the government and that the approach to collecting debt, such as tax and benefit overpayments, was inconsistent and often ineffective. The debt originates from many sources including unpaid fees, taxes, fines and loans, ineligible benefits or grants and unrecovered costs from court cases.

The service will initially be available to six departments including HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office, the Student Loans Company, the Legal Aid Agency and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency; there are also plans for IDS to offer its services to the wider public sector, for example, local authorities.

This got me thinking and the phrase ‘detailed analytics’ rang a few alarm bells for me. Those of us who have had first-hand experience of dealing with HMRC’s existing debt management goons, known as DMB, know that they are nothing like the nice enforcement officers you see on the TV, with their normal modus operandi being, ‘Can’t pay, then we’ll take it away’.

So now we have the situation where HMRC will be moving their enforcement and collection from their increasingly heavy handed goons at DMB, to this new even more intrusive new heavy squad at IDS.

Tax Accountant’s Experience of DMB

To give you a flavour of what things might become I’ll tell you a little story, as Max Bygraves would put it, about a conversation I had with DMB last week…………..

I have always told my clients that the DMB are the ‘heavy mob’- the government’s equivalent to the Mafia – ‘you don’t want to ignore any letter or phone call from them’ etc etc. My reference to them as the ‘Mafia’ was meant as a joke and in my innocence I hadn’t realised how truly awful they were. Until last Friday, I was not aware of the deep contempt that the DMB people answering the dedicated ‘phone line for accountants and tax agents, actually feel about us. So I’ll tell you the story of last Friday’s conversation.

I started by accepting that my client had been a tad remiss, but having moved a couple of times he swears blind he’s never received any letters etc from DMB. On HMRC’s website it shows that he owes £100 for non-submission of 2013 tax return. I rang to say that I had taken over only a few days ago (as they could see from their records). I said that I would be preparing the Accounts as soon as I could, but I could already see from his paperwork that he wouldn’t owe anything anyway as he was a subcontractor with a refund due (as they could see from his previous returns and contractors CIS submissions).

margaret-hodge MPdoesn't think RTI is a panacea for payroll tax reform

What will Margaret Hodge make of this

Mr Mirren of the DMB office was not interested. He said that the client ‘had been told numerous times’ that he owed £900 + £100 in penalties and that was it. I queried the £900 but was told that it was due. I asked to speak to a manager and this was refused. Mr Mirren would only speak to my client, and only then to find out when he would be paying the full amount of £1,000.He threatened that if he did not hear from him personally by 8am Friday or the return had been submitted by then he would automatically be issuing proceedings. I quoted Donaldson v HMRC but all I got was ‘I’ve been working in this department for years, this is the procedure’ etc.

He wanted his money and was not interested in anything I said (when I could get a word in edgeways that is). The words that I would use to describe the way Mr Mirren spoke to me and his attitude in general would be ‘patronising’, ‘rude’, belittling’ and ‘arrogant’. The words I’ve used are, I can assure you, just me being nice.

I know DMB is really a private company operating under the guise of HMRC and what is worrying is that they will be the ones collecting (sorry…demanding) outstanding payments when the procedure of taking monies from peoples bank accounts is implemented as, be advised, it will be. Getting refunds of incorrectly collected payments will be like getting blood out of a stone and if last Friday’s experience is anything to go by, there will be a lot of grief and hardship along the way for both clients and tax agents. I would go further than that – some people will not be able to take their bullying and serious consequences could result.

My experience was so bad that I implore anyone, including fellow accountants, who’ve had a similar experience to write to their professional bodies, MP’s, the papers, indeed anyone you can think of, telling them that HMRC’s brilliant idea of taking money direct from clients’ accounts is not on.

Stand Up To the DMB Bullies

Someone needs to stand up to them. I tried and failed. As I say the DMB Agents Helpline is wrongly named and is a waste of time and taxpayers’ money and I can only see IDS as being infinitely worse.

Finally, a further interesting little fact, Equifax ltd is owned by Equifax Luxembourg and only a couple of weeks ago I told you that Margaret Hodge and her committee were on a crusade against firms have a HQ in Luxembourg to aggressively avoid tax. So I do hope that HMRC have carried out the necessary due diligence on their new partners paying particular attention to the Luxembourg connections, as God forbid that it could have anything to do with tax avoidance?

 

If any of you would like more detailed information on any aspect of Integrated Debt Services Limited, send me an e-mail and I’ll be pleased to advise further.

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