Manufacturers need bigger skills budget

News Article - 13 August 2007
Category: Business

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has called upon HM Revenue & Customs to compensate firms which have had their progress hampered by the tax body's failure to overcome its VAT registration tailback.

According to the Telegraph, the accountancy organisation has also requested an inquiry by parliament into why the delays appear to be worsening.

Frank Haskew, head of the tax faculty at the ICAEW, told the publication that the tax body has tried to implement its new system of combating VAT fraud "without adequate resources".

As a result, the measures are "clobbering 99 per cent of honest businesses" because of long delays, Mr Haskew stated.

Speaking to the publication, an HMRC spokesperson said that the checks were "essential".

He added: "We have an approved plan that will minimise delays for legitimate businesses, which is now being implemented."

The Scotsman recently claimed that business fraud was 42 per cent higher during the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2006.

Article keywords: Semta recently made calls for manufacturers to pay more attention to training plans in 2011

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• Eurozone manufacturing PMI shows modest improvement
• UK scores highly for economic governance by ratings agency
• Government launches two-year project focusing on manufacturing sector
• Burden of regulation on UK businesses ‘too high’

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