Another data breach bungle by HMRC

It was revealed recently that HM Revenue & Customs had been involved in another data breach bungle, raising further concerns over identity theft. The latest blunder involved over two thousand letters being sent out to claimants with regards to child benefits, but many of them had the personal details of other people on. Read more

Tags: Data breach, security, identity theft, Data security, HM Revenue and Customs

Warning for pensioners over tax codes

It was revealed recently that the systems being used by HM Revenue and Customs had resulted in millions of tax codes being incorrect, which in turn was leading to many people potentially paying too much or too little in the way of tax. Read more

Tags: Tax code, amalgamation, Taxation in the United Kingdom, Business Finance, end, finance, customs, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group

Extra council tax due despite fewer refuse collections during cold snap

It has been announced that many households whose rubbish was left uncollected by the refuse service over the Christmas period and during the cold snap that followed could actually end up paying more council tax as a result of this. As a result of the bad weather less rubbish was recycled and instead ended up in landfills, which resulted in extra tax being incurred. Read more

Tags: environment, Sustainability, Recyclable materials, Landfill in the United Kingdom, Recycling

Rearranging assets can “obviate inheritance tax”

Speaking to a financial advisor and rearranging assets can help minimise the amount of inheritance tax families will have to pay, the independent financial advisory Calculis has said.

There are uncomplicated ways of planning finances, such as placing funds into a trust, allowing consumers to still derive an income from the money, according to the company.

Calculis director Alex Pegley says: “There are various trusts that can be used – one can invest in qualifying investments that you hold personally but after two years are not susceptible to inheritance tax.”

People should be aware that not everyone must pay inheritance tax after the death of their partner. It only applies if the estate is above the £312,000 nil rate band and it does not affect people who receive it from their wife, husband or civil partner if they are both domiciled in the UK.

Only in the event of the estate being worth more than this is are the assets taxable if one partner dies.

Tags: asset, law, Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, band, GBP, trusts, Taxation in the United Kingdom

Officials warn of potential fraud alert amongst UK families

According to a recent report many UK families with children aged under sixteen have been placed on fraud alert after it was revealed that HM Revenues and Customs have lost two discs containing data on all families in the UK with children aged under sixteen, with a range of other related details.

This comes just weeks after it was revealed that discs containing pension details and personal details of pension customers with Standard Life had gone astray, and HMRC and Standard Life had to contact customers to put them on alert.

The data on the latest discs that have gone missing related to child benefit, and amongst the details thought to be contained on the discs are names, addressed, national insurance numbers, dates of birth, and in some cases bank account details. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, stated that there was nothing to say that the discs had fallen into the hands of criminals, but he did warn families to be vigilant to avoid becoming the victims of fraud.

Mr Darling made an emergency statement to MPs relating to the issue, and stated: “The missing information contains details of all Child Benefit recipients: records for 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families. ”

He also expressed his own disappointment with what had happened, apologizing for the situation and stated that the incident was an “extremely serious failure on the part of HMRC to protect sensitive personal data entrusted to it in breach of its own guidelines”.

He told MPs: “Two password protected discs containing a full copy of HMRC’s entire data in relation to the payment of child benefit was sent to the NAO, by HMRC’s internal post system operated by the courier TNT. The package was not recorded or registered. It appears the data has failed to reach the addressee in the NAO.”

Tom Smith
27th November 2007

Tags: Child Benefit recipients, 27th november, hmrc, Taxation in the United Kingdom, customs