Just as a side issue and if anyone was in any doubt as to how desperate the current government are, and how shambolic our tax collection system is, I have this morning recieved a letter from HM Revenue advising me that I owe them (allegedly) £110 dating back to a tax return from 2005, apart from not having a clue whether or not this demand is correct it raises a couple of questions ...



1. They are now obviously scraping right down into the bottom corners of the barrel to try and drag in every last penny that is showing on their ledger as "owed", they've not chased this alleged amount from me before so presumably in the past it was deemed to be either unproven or just not of a large enough amount to bother with.



2. What sort of tax collection system did we have before that would leave amounts outstanding without reproach for seven years and no-one bothered to chase them - can you imagine trying to run a private business with debts going back seven years ?



Its gone in a drawer, I'll wait and see if they send a follow-up letter, its not unknown for them to send stuff like this out on the hope that a percentage will just cough up without question.

exactly the same stuff happened with the previous government.

The only way they are able to do it now is because of their new software which came online a couple of years ago, to do it previously would have taken millions of man-hours to collate, hence the reason why I never received such a demand during my self employment years from 1984 to 2007.



I'm not questioning the need or the right to do it, simply highlighting the fact that even a few pounds outstanding are now on the radar and also highlighting the absolute inefficiency of the tax system previously, something that most self employed people are well aware of.

I've noticed that they are using debtor collectors to try to collect pathetically small sums (like £100) from company's that always pay them VAT, albeit a bit late. It's a complete waste of paper and therefore money. They are losing the plot. They are simply clueless.

They are indeed useless, in fact, beyond useless, not related to who is in Downing Street either.

I got my P45 two weeks ago, along with the usual about benefit claiming etc. and how I must start looking for work immediately. Problem was I left that job 14 years ago. Then when I called them to point this out they managed to find another £400 in tax I owed them.

Every year I get a huge tax bill and every year it's wrong and I spend 3 months trying to get them to send my correct tax code to my employer (which they never manage to do untilI've called them at least 5 times). They also sent all our European employees tax information to a guy who left the company a year ago, despite several attempts to update our contact details with them.



They are complete fuknuckckwitts.

I'd disagree and I'd point the finger at politicians of all hues, past and present for the only morsel of sympathy I have for the tax collectors is the facct that almost every year without fail for any number of decades they have had to deal with one politician after another tinkering and tweaking with the rules for their own political gain - often with no regard whatsoever to the economy or indeed how the hell its all going to be administered, just one example of which is the Tax Credit system devised by Gordon Brown - absolutely political, totally inexplicable to or by anyone including the offices who were supposed to be administering it.

Mrs Hull White Star - I am sure this has been covered before but to clarify - how much do get in benefits of one kind or another?

I get ESA until September but that will stop because hubby earns over £7,500pa so deemed rich enough to support me, and I get DLA for now, which I happen to get the car and not the money as I can't use public transport. Why do you want to know?

Why should that matter to you?



Will you be telling all & sundry how much your remuneration package is?

Quite. Benefit rates are all in the public domain anyway.

The point appears to be here that those on benefits are struggling to survive on the meager crumbs dished out by the government. So how meager are those crumbs?



My in law on disability is now on his second foreign holiday in the last two months - could be the drug dealing, which his conviction is a matter of public record, is paying for it or it could be his benefits.