You
Can not Avoid the Taxman or the Grave
It is said that there are only two sure things in life and that is taxes and death. Neither can be avoided and although it is possible to dodge some of the former it certainly is not possible to avoid the latter.
Even when you die the taxes continue in the form of death duties and there’s even Value Added Tax on the funeral costs.
In these days where we all have to tighten our belts many people are tempted to put old family heirlooms into auctions.
A recent news report warns that the taxman looks just as hard to recover tax as we all do to avoid it and many people are unaware that some items sold in your local town auctioneers are subject to income tax.
Anything sold for over six thousand pounds is liable to tax at eighteen per cent and the amount rises with the greater sale price. You can rest assured that the local taxman will be scrutinising the sales results and a little red mark will be made against your name.
Whatever you do you must never get on the wrong side of the taxman. They have ways to make you suffer if you do try to avoid paying. Their typical attitude to a small time self-employed man thought to be avoiding tax is to ask to see the books.
If something does not look right he will give the man a chance to revise the books which is a euphemism for telling the truth. When the books come back showing that a mistake had indeed been made and the businessman offers a cheque for the difference, if he is one of the very lucky few the cheque will be accepted but normally the taxman has a gotcha moment and says that the books must be taken back and the figures looked out again.
This time the threat is that if the exact whole truth is not believable the tax man will rake through the whole business with a fine tooth comb.
Internet auctions are a much safer and fun way to get a good deal as you can see at http://www.bidvid.com/
