Decmber 2007 newsletter

DUCKETT

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Web-link special.

I’m struggling to find time to sift data on your behalf – please go to the horses’ mouths.

Forthcoming events

At last. The Boyscout has fixed an event for the New Year:

" The stupid company- how not to alienate your customers" – Sean Humby of IQ Training

Belmont Lodge and Golf, Wednesday 9th January at 6.30.

He assures me that the speaker is particularly lively – a chance to shed a few pounds by proxy? [His joke]. Book early!

Book of the month

This was such a good article, but I haven’t quite got as far as reading the book: "YES! Fifty Secrets from the Science of Persuasion" by Cialdini, Martin & Goldstein.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article2804923.ece

I’m particularly excited by the observation that waiters are tipped better if they can repeat the customer’s order word for word. Must have some relevance to winning new business?

Christmas presents

Before anybody asks, let me remind you that gifts of food and drink are not allowable for tax relief. No matter what. Therefore, my suggestion for a present for the successful entrepreneur is Indicator’s "Tax avoidance for the company director 2007/8". Maybe Whiplash could use it to create a version of Trivial Pursuits, obviously with forfeits?

Higginson Hole

This is a variant on the Law of Unintended Consequences and a warning about letting the tax tail wag the business dog. Small family farm. Dad old, but still alive and living in the farmhouse. In order to get IHT relief on this farmhouse, Dad has to stay in the partnership with son. Dad has an accident with the result that he has to go into care. He survives several years with the local authority taking a charge on the farmhouse to cover care costs. On his death, the farm has to be sold to clear the charge. IHT at 40% exchanged for care costs at 100%. Sue the accountants.

Back door enquiries

The Revenue has discovered that if they write direct to taxpayers, they can probably get them to agree that something is wrong regardless. New intervention letters ask taxpayers to sign that they have checked for errors and found none. This apparently counts as a Certificate of Full disclosure. That’s what Lester Pigott signed before he paid the tax from a bank account that he hadn’t declared and went straight to jail. So, watch what you are signing.

Another Amnesty

Yes, that once in a lifetime, never to be repeated offer … is being repeated, even before the tax has been paid on the first try. This is a brilliant example of bureaucrats failing to understand risk/motivation. The first amnesty carried a (slightly) reduced penalty, full interest, was completely open-ended and allowed them to prosecute if they felt like it. In other words, all the cards were stacked in the Revenue’s favour, which is the way they want it. However, by definition, people who deliberately tuck money away offshore do not see the world like the strategists at the Revenue do: compliance is not their preferred option. So, its no surprise whatsoever that the people who have taken advantage of the first Amnesty were mostly small fry – the big tax wins have simply not materialised. Hence the need to run it again. By contrast, in Ireland and Australia, amnesties were huge successes. Given national characteristics, I leave it to you to work out why. I fully expect any tax gains from Amnesty#2 to be spent on dealing with appeals from people who went for Amnesty#1 and have been "over-taxed".

Christmas cheer

If the visitors just won’t leave and you can’t think up your own excuse for staying out of the way, then your accountant says you’ve got to look at this lot. From the sublime to the ridiculous:

www.walkingtall.com – fitness link site

www.wellnesscoach.com – with a hint of tree hugging

www.angriesout.com – a must for Whiplash in January

www.businessballs.com – this must be a joke? Although they do talk about Maslow.

www.redtaperants.co.uk – Mrs Angry gets going. Ignore #3.

www.synergyinstituteonline.com – an oriental founder – just be careful.

I’ve also managed to put some new stuff on our website. The continuous tax changes are a real pain www.chrisduckett.co.uk/taxupdate2007.html

but the piece on monitoring is where the value lies www.chrisduckett.co.uk/monitoring.html

Penalty regime

Whilst I may get rather gloomy at this time of year, I haven’t (yet) started reading the obituaries in the paper. Fortunately, one of our readers does and spotted a very relevant piece in the Telegraph on David Muffet. He was a District Officer in Nigeria in the early 60s. On one occasion, he had to arrest a tribal chief for eating the local tax inspector. The chief had been so impressed by the taxman’s ability to acquire money on demand that he had decided to try to assimilate his powers.

Is there anybody else we could apply this to?

www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/13/db1301.xml

Libby Purves really lays into the Revenue in this article in The Times

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/libby_purves/article2925936.ece

I’ll vote for her.

How to win at work

Why are some people more successful than others? Because they follow these strategies?:

• Be in control: the job does not control you – because you set your own boundaries
• Create time to think
• Don’t be fazed by uncertainty and ambiguity
• Recognise when you’re running on empty and give yourself time to recover

Solid advice.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/movers_and_shakers/executive_movers/article2948591.ece

Working the web

The Institute thinks all accountants are web-illiterate and is telling us to keep up by blogging and things. Allegedly, this is the way to do it

www.taxblagger.co.uk

Seems like a pale imitation of The Newsletter to me?

Five steps to taking over

Transferring a family business from one generation to the next is a particularly difficult trick to pull off. The drive to create the business in Generation#1 is usually in short supply by Generation#2 and entirely absent by Generation#3.Allegedly, the following is key:

• Make sure you actually want to take over the business.
• Get your parent to set a timetable for his or her withdrawal from the company.
• Get as much experience as you can outside the business before you take over the reins.
• Draw up a training plan so you have a solid grounding in each area of the business.
• Conduct open discussions on the future of the business with your parents. Talk about what their expectations are and what yours are.

Or get somebody in to break it up and sell it off quickly, while there’s still some value.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/support_services/article2651579.ece

What to do if you’ve lost some computer discs

Relax

Think where you had the discs last

Check behind the sofa

The Shoe of Salvation

Shoe: Look at me. Am I not wonderful?

Lady: You are the most wonderful shoe in the world. I fall to my knees and weep with pleasure when I am with you.

Pause

Lady: You are Beauty. You are Truth. In you I find my Salvation.

Shoe: Thank you. You are a nice lady.

Perhaps I’ve been working too hard recently?

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