And now for something completely interesting: Chapter 24 - Interest on Debt, Compensation and judgments

What does you savings account pay at the moment? 0.5%? 1.5% if you're lucky and don't need the money now to pay for the Xmas excesses? So it might be a bit of a shock to find out that if someone owes you money under judgment you might be able to charge them 8% interest on what they owe. You read that right 8% (thanks to a law that came into force in 1993 and has not been changed since).

As ever there are rules and exceptions but this type of interest can add up to a tidy sum so find out when this can apply and how to get the interest due in Chapter 24.

* Do check posts on this blog for any legal developments since this chapter was originally published.

Tax Penalties Quashed: Latest Appeal Cases

They tell me that 31 January 2019 is near. Penalty time if you don't get your online tax return in by then. You can appeal against all sorts of tax penalties which should not have been imposed. The appeal success rate looks to be pretty reasonable. You will find details of successes at http://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/search/label/tax%20penalties

Here are two of the latest taxpayer wins.

In Redman v Commissioners for HMRC Appeal number TC/2017/07240 the first-tier tribunal of the tax chamber cancelled penalties of £97,821 for two tax years which had stunned an evangelical Christian who earns his living as a singer/songwriter and musician and for a period of time had been non-resident here while working in the USA. When his accountant came to file his late tax returns for two years subsequent to his return to the UK,  the accountant found he was unable to do so because Mr Redman had been removed from the self-employed system. Trouble is that HMRC had failed to notify that fact to him or his accountant. Nevertheless, HMRC asserted that Mr Redman had breached section 7 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 by deliberately not giving notice of his liability to be charged up for tax in relation to those two years. 

The Tribunal decided that the failure to notify could not have been deliberate because neither Mr Redman nor his accountant had been notified that Mr Redman had been taken out of the self-employed system. It also decided that was a reasonable excuse for non-notification. So, no deliberate default and no carelessness.

Over to Advantage Business Finance Ltd v Commissioners for HMRC [2019] UKFTT 30 (TC) where daily penalties of £900 were cancelled by the Tribunal for a late Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings return (pretty obscure, I know). The reason? The law required HMRC to notify the taxpayer of the date from which the penalty was payable. It did so but only after the end of the penalty period. Too late.

Happy Returns to you!

New CPR Updates: Boring

I'll be frank with you. Unless you are a lawyer, enjoy watching paint dry, are asked to participate in a digital pilot scheme for small claims or just plain crazy, this post will bore the screen off your television set. Even if you fall into one of those categories, you may want your money back for reading the post. Oh, I forgot. You get this for nothing (but you could always buy my book, out of shame).

This is about updates to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 number 102 which came into force on 01 January 2019 before you got up and 103 which came into force today (14 January 2019).

Update 102 brought in a capped costs scheme for cases with a value of up to £250,000 in proceedings in the London Circuit Commercial Court and the Business and Property Courts based in Leeds and Manchester, there covering Chancery, Circuit Commercial and Technology and Construction Court business. The scheme is voluntary and will run for two years.

Update 103 extends the scope of the pilot scheme for online civil money claims for less than £10,000 which is open only to litigants in person. 

I told you! I told you!

The Bailiff Strikes!: Chapter 23 - Execution

This one is for those of you on the wrong end of a visit from a bailiff. There are strict rules that the unwelcome visitors have to abide by: they can't just come in and take everything you own and their paperwork has to be shipshape. Knowing what those rules are may give you some changes to delay things so you have more time to get your house in order so in this Chapter I've explained what they are in all their glory.

* Do check posts on this blog for any legal developments since this chapter was originally published.

Can't Pay, Won't Pay: Chapter 22 - Getting your money under a Judgment

Winning in court might well be the easy part. Before you celebrate at the Fat Duck you'll need to get the money you are owed and that can take some time and perhaps some perseverance. Choosing the best option to enforce payment from a reluctant opponent is vital so I've explained them all in Chapter 22.

Along the way I've also set out some words of wisdom that can take the heat off if you are the one being chased by your creditors.

* Do check posts on this blog for any legal developments since this chapter was originally published.

Waitrose Regrets - Again And Again

Regulars will be aware that things have not gone too well for me when visiting Waitrose at Richmond-upon-Thames (http://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/search/label/Waitrose gives some examples).

I don't want to be hard on them but they do seem to have trouble with rectifying problems. I have to tell you about my outing to the store the other day. Here's my email exchange with Waitrose. They certainly know how to say sorry. Perhaps they could learn how to put things right.

FROM: STEPHEN GOLD
TO: WAITROSE CUSTOMER SERVICE
09 January 2019   17.08

Hello Again and a Happy New Year

I thought you would like to hear of my experiences at your Richmond-upon-Thames store this afternoon in  a space of 59 minutes. Here goes.

1 The cashier on the till at the far end of the store was again without a stamp machine with which to impress my car park ticket to indicate I had spent at least £10. This particular till has suffered from stamp machine starvation for several years. A machine did mysteriously appear at the till about six months ago which presumably explained why the cashier was smiling but I believe the appearance was short lived. This is a matter to which I drew your attention on 06 June 2018.

2 My car park ticket (once stamped by an adjoining cashier) was rejected by both ticket machines which, from the message displayed, seemed to think it was a credit card. 

3 I had to wait for approximately ten minutes at the customer services desk in order to report the ticket rejection and  to be given the magic word to be announced when attempting to leave the car park without having first successfully patronised the ticket machine.

4 According your automated announcement,  the middle car park lift with me ascending therein was, in fact, descending. The fact that this lift does not appear to know whether it is going up or coming down was a matter to which I have twice drawn your attention, namely on 29 July 2018 and previously. You were having the problem solved.

Should you like my unpaid assistance in tackling the above problems then do please let me know. I hope that you manage to get out of your office at the end of your shift and that your chair does not collapse in the meantime.

Regards

Stephen Gold

FROM: WAITROSE CUSTOMER SERVICE
TO: STEPHEN GOLD

11 January 2019   08.25

Dear Mr Gold

Thanks for taking the time to contact us and share your experiences of our Richmond store. 

It’s disappointing to hear of the issues you encountered, and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. 

 Our Branch Management team try to ensure that any maintenance issues are actioned as quickly and efficiently as possible, to minimise any frustration our customers may experience. I’m sorry for the trouble you were faced with and the service you received - the Branch Management team will follow this up with the maintenance team and Partners working at the time. 

If you have any concerns or observations in future, please don’t hesitate to ask to speak to the Duty Manager, so they can discuss this with you at the time.
I’m sorry for the disappointing experience that you had and I hope we can welcome you back soon. 

I hope this has resolved your query, please let me know if it hasn't.  If you'd like to comment on the service I've given you, click the link below to take part in our quick survey - as a thank you, we’ll also enter you into our monthly prize draw where you could win Waitrose & Partners gift vouchers.

http://waitrosehaveyoursay.com/CS/0050O000009IG7p

Kind regards 

Simon 
Waitrose & Partners Customer Care

http://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/search/label/Waitrose

Complaints? I have had a few but then again too few to mention: Chapter 21 - Challenging the Judge's Decision

Don't like the end result? Then you have the options to complain or appeal though the latter is the one to pursue if you think the judge has come to the wrong conclusions. Both routes explained here and also some essential insights on when and how to appeal.