Is this the Silver Bullet?

00:11:51
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OE2qJ8Enzg

Summary

TLDRThe video discusses a recent court case revealing discrepancies in government estimates regarding the impact of a VAT policy on private school fees, suggesting a larger number of students may transition to state schools than publicly stated. While the public was informed about 30,000 to 35,000 students potentially moving, internal memos indicated this figure could be as high as 54,000, meaning the policy could generate zero net revenue. There are also concerns about HMRC's powers to directly withdraw funds from bank accounts based on potentially erroneous beliefs about unpaid taxes, which raises fairness issues regarding financial stability for individuals and businesses.

Takeaways

  • 📊 Internal memos suggested 54,000 children may move to state schools, not 35,000.
  • 💰 The potential zero net revenue raises questions about government transparency.
  • ⚖️ HMRC's direct recovery powers could lead to wrongful fund withdrawals.
  • 📉 Misallocation of payments by HMRC poses risks of penalties for taxpayers.
  • 🛡️ Incogn offers solutions for data removal from brokers and marketers.
  • 📅 The timing of VAT policy changes mid-academic year seems intentional.
  • 🔎 Transparency in government communication is crucial for public trust.
  • ⚠️ Taxpayers must be vigilant with HMRC dealings to avoid financial mistakes.
  • 📜 Legal processes exist to protect individuals from wrongful seizure of funds.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The government was criticized for estimating the movement of children from private schools to state schools, disclosing a lower figure of 35,000 while internal memos suggested the number could be as high as 54,000. This revelation, emerging from ongoing court cases and memos, indicates that the government may have misled the public regarding the financial implications of their policy, predicting that the net revenue could actually be zero due to higher-than-expected transfers, raising concerns about the motivations behind the timing and implementation of the policy.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:11:51

    The high court case additionally highlighted past issues with HMRC's record-keeping, as personal experiences were shared about incorrect tax assessments leading to unsubstantiated penalties. These reflect serious concerns about HMRC's authority to directly recover funds from bank accounts, especially when their estimations may lead to wrongful deductions that could destabilize individuals or businesses financially. The discussion calls into question the fairness of current tax enforcement practices and the potential impact of mistaken assessments on people's livelihoods.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What was the initial estimate of children moving from private to state schools?

    The initial estimate was around 30,000 to 35,000 children.

  • What did internal memos reveal about the actual estimates?

    Internal memos indicated that up to 54,000 children were likely to move.

  • How does this discrepancy affect the government's policy?

    If 54,000 children move, the policy could result in zero net revenue.

  • What are the implications of HMRC's direct recovery scheme?

    It allows HMRC to withdraw funds directly from bank accounts without court orders, potentially causing financial distress due to mistaken assessments.

  • What issues have been faced with HMRC's misallocations?

    There have been instances where wrongly allocated payments led to penalties and interest leviable on taxpayers.

  • How does Incogn help with personal data issues?

    Incogn helps individuals remove their data from various data brokers and companies that misuse personal information.

  • What recourse do individuals have if HMRC mistakenly takes funds?

    Individuals may struggle to prove their payments were made and rectify HMRC's mistakes, which can lead to financial strain.

  • What should individuals do if they face issues with HMRC's assessments?

    It's important to communicate promptly with HMRC and provide necessary evidence of payments to correct misunderstandings.

  • Why was the VAT policy implemented mid-academic year?

    The timing suggests a deliberate strategy to disrupt the private education sector.

  • Is there a special discount on Incogn services?

    Yes, using the code 'black belt secrets' provides a 60% discount.

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Subtitles
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  • 00:00:00
    do you remember when the public were
  • 00:00:01
    told that 35,000 children were estimated
  • 00:00:04
    to move from private schools to state
  • 00:00:06
    schools when you were being told about
  • 00:00:07
    the VAT on private school fees well what
  • 00:00:11
    if in fact internal memos suggested that
  • 00:00:13
    those numbers were a lot higher and that
  • 00:00:16
    the public were not told this
  • 00:00:17
    information would you think that that
  • 00:00:18
    was dishonest of the government to tell
  • 00:00:20
    you that well this is what happens when
  • 00:00:22
    cases go to court because we have a
  • 00:00:25
    thing called disclosure where all the
  • 00:00:27
    information all the documents anything
  • 00:00:29
    that is either supportive of your case
  • 00:00:31
    or goes against your case you have to
  • 00:00:34
    disclose in court so that's what's
  • 00:00:36
    happened here there's an official memo
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    internally that suggests in fact 54,000
  • 00:00:42
    children were estimated to move from the
  • 00:00:43
    private sector to the state sector and
  • 00:00:46
    against those same estimates that would
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    mean that this whole policy makes no
  • 00:00:51
    money at all so welcome back to Black
  • 00:00:54
    Belt Secrets you've probably recognized
  • 00:00:55
    that I'm somewhere else i'm actually in
  • 00:00:58
    China but let's have a discussion about
  • 00:01:00
    this because this is really serious so
  • 00:01:01
    this case going on in the high court has
  • 00:01:04
    revealed lots more information and it
  • 00:01:07
    seems that Treasury official memos
  • 00:01:10
    estimated and advised the chancellor of
  • 00:01:12
    a number of things one that there was an
  • 00:01:14
    estimated 54,000 children due to move
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    within the first two years alone and
  • 00:01:20
    that alone on their own estimates would
  • 00:01:22
    mean that they make zero money because
  • 00:01:25
    on these estimates if 10% of the
  • 00:01:28
    children in the private sector moved
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    that would mean that the net revenue
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    from this whole policy is zero um so
  • 00:01:35
    they told the public a different figure
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    obviously because they wanted the public
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    to believe that actually this was going
  • 00:01:42
    to make money so they told the public
  • 00:01:44
    something different they told you that
  • 00:01:46
    around 30 to 35,000 would move and that
  • 00:01:49
    was um just an acceptable number an
  • 00:01:52
    acceptable collateral damage to the
  • 00:01:54
    private sector not only that they were
  • 00:01:56
    also advised that this should be done at
  • 00:01:59
    a later stage to avoid the disruption
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    and in fact there was an estimate that
  • 00:02:05
    moving in in January moving this policy
  • 00:02:07
    in in January was going to be the
  • 00:02:09
    maximum disruption to private education
  • 00:02:12
    and that's exactly what they did now so
  • 00:02:15
    many other policies have been forecasted
  • 00:02:19
    to come in in a year or two years or
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    even by the end of the parliament or
  • 00:02:23
    even by the end of the second term if
  • 00:02:25
    they believe they'll get a second term
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    but why did this have to come in
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    immediately halfway through an academic
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    year in my personal view that is because
  • 00:02:35
    this is a spiteful policy that's all it
  • 00:02:37
    was ever intended to be and judging on
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    previous videos and uh memos and things
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    that we've seen it's my view that it is
  • 00:02:46
    done deliberately to attack the private
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    education sector and I think that is
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    disingenuous i personally think that is
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    dishonest if these figures are true and
  • 00:02:56
    that proves that this is very much a
  • 00:02:59
    spiteful policy so looking back at what
  • 00:03:01
    they officially estimated to the public
  • 00:03:04
    they said that within the first year or
  • 00:03:05
    so there'd be a few thousand and then
  • 00:03:07
    within the next couple of years up to
  • 00:03:09
    20,000 and long-term they estimated a
  • 00:03:12
    maximum of about 35,000 students however
  • 00:03:15
    during the court hearings they've
  • 00:03:16
    estimated on this internal memo that
  • 00:03:18
    actually about 54,000 children would be
  • 00:03:22
    likely to move within the first two
  • 00:03:24
    years alone and that on their own
  • 00:03:26
    estimation would mean that they make
  • 00:03:28
    zero net revenue at the cost of the
  • 00:03:31
    disruption of the education of all of
  • 00:03:33
    these children and it's not the only
  • 00:03:36
    time that the Treasury and HMRC get
  • 00:03:39
    things wrong i have a number of examples
  • 00:03:41
    both in personal and professional life
  • 00:03:45
    where these things go badly wrong and
  • 00:03:48
    you might recall a video that I did on
  • 00:03:50
    whether or not HMRC can just put their
  • 00:03:52
    hand into your bank account and take the
  • 00:03:54
    money if they believe you owe tax well
  • 00:03:56
    as it happens just after I did that
  • 00:03:58
    video I had another personal example to
  • 00:04:00
    tell you which I'll tell you in just a
  • 00:04:02
    moment don't go away just aside for a
  • 00:04:04
    quick story quite an alarming story
  • 00:04:06
    actually yesterday I received an email
  • 00:04:07
    from a company that had set up a new
  • 00:04:09
    account in the name of a former employee
  • 00:04:12
    of mine now he hasn't worked for me for
  • 00:04:14
    over 10 years but what they've done is
  • 00:04:17
    they've taken his details used a generic
  • 00:04:20
    company email address and set up an
  • 00:04:22
    account and then started emailing it
  • 00:04:23
    telling him that he's eligible for
  • 00:04:26
    certain uh credit cards and things like
  • 00:04:28
    that which obviously raised alarm bells
  • 00:04:30
    because they've got enough of his
  • 00:04:31
    information to start setting up credit
  • 00:04:32
    searches and things like that which I
  • 00:04:34
    thought was quite horrendous given that
  • 00:04:35
    this guy had not worked for me for over
  • 00:04:37
    10 years but this was a genuine email
  • 00:04:39
    from a genuine company and I thought
  • 00:04:41
    that's quite horrendous that they've
  • 00:04:42
    still got those details even though he
  • 00:04:44
    hasn't worked for me for over 10 years
  • 00:04:46
    and this is one of the things that
  • 00:04:48
    happens with identity theft when these
  • 00:04:50
    companies have your information because
  • 00:04:51
    it's sold on again and again and that is
  • 00:04:54
    why I partner with a company on my
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    channel called Incogn because incogn is
  • 00:04:58
    a service that is set up specifically to
  • 00:05:00
    target these data brokers and
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    marketeteers that collect all your
  • 00:05:04
    information together and sell it onto
  • 00:05:06
    other parties like the one that sent
  • 00:05:07
    this email yesterday having set up an
  • 00:05:09
    account in this guy's name and I haven't
  • 00:05:11
    even spoken to him for over 10 years now
  • 00:05:13
    but Incogn will request and require
  • 00:05:16
    using UK law and US law that these
  • 00:05:18
    companies remove your data from their
  • 00:05:21
    servers it works off an email address
  • 00:05:23
    and your details and they must remove
  • 00:05:26
    your data from their servers else they
  • 00:05:28
    are in breach of law and if they fail to
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    remove that data after your request then
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    there is potentially a good claim
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    and it gives you information on how many
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    companies have confirmed that they've
  • 00:05:41
    got your data and that they are removing
  • 00:05:43
    it or in the process of removing it you
  • 00:05:45
    will be alarmed as to how many companies
  • 00:05:47
    have your data and confirm that they are
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    removing it if you did this yourself
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    even if you knew who to go to it would
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    take you hours but Incogn does all of
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    plan and of course a 30-day money back
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    that they've got your data and they're
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    in the process of removing it you'll be
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    alarmed and relieved at the same time so
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    many companies confirm it because this
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    was a very real story quite an alarming
  • 00:06:25
    story this guy hasn't worked for me for
  • 00:06:26
    over 10 years and they're setting up
  • 00:06:28
    accounts in his name and it's coming to
  • 00:06:29
    a generic email address because they
  • 00:06:32
    obviously want to make sure that someone
  • 00:06:34
    sees the email quite alarming but check
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    it out don't forget the discount code
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    black belt secrets the links in the
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    description and you'll be relieved when
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    you see how many companies remove your
  • 00:06:42
    data so back to my personal story now I
  • 00:06:45
    told you in my previous video that HMRC
  • 00:06:48
    now are planning to reignite this uh
  • 00:06:51
    originally conservative scheme of direct
  • 00:06:54
    recovery if they believe you owe tax uh
  • 00:06:57
    just a brief recap on that so long as
  • 00:06:59
    you have at least £5,000 across your
  • 00:07:01
    accounts you owe at least £1,000 in tax
  • 00:07:04
    their direct recovery scheme is that
  • 00:07:06
    they can just take your money from your
  • 00:07:09
    account and they don't need to do
  • 00:07:11
    anything else for it as against to go to
  • 00:07:13
    court for an order or a freezing order
  • 00:07:15
    or a third party debt order any of those
  • 00:07:17
    things which I explained in my previous
  • 00:07:18
    video um but also they are now seeking
  • 00:07:23
    direct information from banking
  • 00:07:25
    institutions about you and your savings
  • 00:07:27
    where you've got your money saved and
  • 00:07:29
    all of that sort of stuff so they want
  • 00:07:31
    all of this information they want it
  • 00:07:33
    directly and so essentially they can spy
  • 00:07:36
    on you so they they know what you have
  • 00:07:38
    and where you have it now my problem
  • 00:07:40
    with them having the ability to just
  • 00:07:42
    reach into your bank account and take
  • 00:07:44
    the money is that they can and they do
  • 00:07:46
    get things wrong and I'll give you an
  • 00:07:48
    example because no sooner I published
  • 00:07:50
    that video we had our own example
  • 00:07:52
    because we had an email from our
  • 00:07:53
    accountant to say that uh we had well
  • 00:07:56
    they'd received a letter from HMRC to
  • 00:07:58
    say that they were going to charge us
  • 00:08:00
    interest on unpaid tax now this is not
  • 00:08:03
    the only time this has happened um we
  • 00:08:06
    didn't have any unpaid tax just to make
  • 00:08:07
    that clear but this is not the only time
  • 00:08:09
    this has happened this has happened at
  • 00:08:10
    least two or three times you see we are
  • 00:08:12
    always quite efficient uh we have
  • 00:08:14
    multiple companies and obviously we are
  • 00:08:17
    self assessed for tax and everything
  • 00:08:18
    else and we are very efficient with that
  • 00:08:21
    we pay things not just on time but ahead
  • 00:08:24
    of any deadlines and we pay it all in
  • 00:08:26
    full straight away uh we we are never
  • 00:08:28
    late or anything like that and more than
  • 00:08:31
    a couple of times now we've had
  • 00:08:34
    HMRC misallocate as in we've paid the
  • 00:08:38
    tax but they've allocated it to the
  • 00:08:40
    wrong year they've allocated it to the
  • 00:08:42
    previous year on the assumption their
  • 00:08:45
    words not mine on the assumption that
  • 00:08:47
    this was a late payment for the previous
  • 00:08:50
    year even though we'd already paid the
  • 00:08:52
    previous year so that didn't make sense
  • 00:08:53
    anyway but they assumed that it was a
  • 00:08:55
    late payment and so therefore they added
  • 00:08:57
    penalties at least on that occasion they
  • 00:08:59
    added penalties and interest um all of
  • 00:09:01
    which disappeared because they'd got it
  • 00:09:03
    wrong now just a day or two ago they did
  • 00:09:05
    exactly the same thing again they added
  • 00:09:08
    interest they sent a letter they said
  • 00:09:09
    that it was going to charge us interest
  • 00:09:11
    and again they'd misallocated the
  • 00:09:13
    payment they'd assumed that it was wrong
  • 00:09:15
    um just a quick conversation with the
  • 00:09:17
    accountant cleared it up actually it had
  • 00:09:18
    been paid there's nothing wrong with it
  • 00:09:20
    um so they've canceled the interest but
  • 00:09:22
    that's my problem with this you see if
  • 00:09:24
    they believed that we'd not paid the tax
  • 00:09:27
    and therefore they levied interest
  • 00:09:29
    against the tax that they believed that
  • 00:09:30
    we hadn't paid which was wrong because
  • 00:09:33
    we had paid it if they believe that that
  • 00:09:35
    was unpaid and this direct recovery
  • 00:09:37
    scheme is in force and they just reach
  • 00:09:41
    into the bank account and take the money
  • 00:09:43
    then they're taking the money when they
  • 00:09:45
    are mistaken now you might then say well
  • 00:09:49
    if they can communicate and get all of
  • 00:09:51
    the details and they know whether we
  • 00:09:54
    have the savings and everything else
  • 00:09:55
    that doesn't stop them getting it wrong
  • 00:09:58
    because they had the payment from the
  • 00:10:00
    previous year already so this is without
  • 00:10:04
    them getting additional information from
  • 00:10:06
    the bank to say that there's savings in
  • 00:10:08
    the account that is without them having
  • 00:10:10
    the ability to just take the money that
  • 00:10:12
    they believe that they are owed
  • 00:10:14
    mistakenly from the account and the
  • 00:10:16
    penalties and interest and anything else
  • 00:10:18
    that they might then want to take as
  • 00:10:20
    well so very realistically based on our
  • 00:10:23
    own experience just from a couple of
  • 00:10:25
    days ago and from a couple of years ago
  • 00:10:27
    whenever it was at least more once or
  • 00:10:29
    twice before we've had this situation
  • 00:10:32
    where they've believed that the money
  • 00:10:34
    was not paid and so they've sent us a
  • 00:10:37
    notice a notice that we were going to be
  • 00:10:39
    fined and we were going to pay interest
  • 00:10:40
    because they believed that we hadn't
  • 00:10:43
    paid it when we had so it's just flatout
  • 00:10:46
    wrong so they get these things wrong
  • 00:10:48
    sometimes and so my problem with them
  • 00:10:50
    having that level of power is that they
  • 00:10:52
    can just take the money and actually
  • 00:10:54
    they are mistaken but what if then that
  • 00:10:56
    takes away all of the money that you've
  • 00:10:58
    got to run your business or if it's in
  • 00:10:59
    your personal life and it makes you
  • 00:11:01
    struggle financially and you have to go
  • 00:11:03
    through lots of hoops to convince them
  • 00:11:05
    that it was paid it's a mistake it's
  • 00:11:07
    their mistake they need to put it right
  • 00:11:09
    how is that fair well it isn't fair
  • 00:11:13
    frankly as a lawyer that's not fair
  • 00:11:15
    whenever we go to court for an order to
  • 00:11:17
    freeze money or a charging order which
  • 00:11:20
    is to freeze property or a third party
  • 00:11:22
    debt order which is to order a bank to
  • 00:11:24
    freeze money and then pay it over to a
  • 00:11:26
    judgment creditor we go through all of
  • 00:11:28
    these steps and processes to convince
  • 00:11:30
    the court that we've been through all
  • 00:11:32
    the steps we have to go through all
  • 00:11:33
    these processes to convince the court
  • 00:11:35
    that the person is not going to be left
  • 00:11:37
    severely destitute because of this order
  • 00:11:40
    so that is my problem with HMRC having
  • 00:11:42
    that level of power so let me know what
  • 00:11:44
    you think about that in the comment
  • 00:11:45
    section below let me know what you think
  • 00:11:46
    about the VAT on school fees below
Tags
  • VAT
  • private schools
  • state schools
  • HMRC
  • tax policy
  • court case
  • government estimates
  • disclosure
  • financial implications
  • data protection