Paying Your Dues

By admin, June 10th, 2011 | Things That Make Rider Mad | 0 Comments

It’s not easy being law-abiding is it. Parish Councils now have to register as employers as they employ Clerks. This means that the Clerk has to do the paperwork (in reality probably most go online) for their own job. Not enough any more to declare earnings through personal tax returns. It’s a wonder as much tax is collected as there obviously is and how much isn’t through the complexity of the forms to be filled in. Rider and Him Indoors have spent some hours and numerous occasions working through the various steps being law-abiding citizens. Expletives have filled the air. Logic and clarity of information is unknown to HM Revenue & Customs. Automated voices offer helpful buttons to press, none of which apply. Real persons try to be helpful and give a more suitable telephone number to ring. Further automated voices offer further helpful inapplicable buttons to press. Passwords come to allow further delving into the system. Further delving generates further passwords to complete further steps. In Rider’s case no tax will be due but – hey- what the hell – the system is up and running (almost) and a jolly good time was had by all. Can a Clerk charge the HMRC for time spent on making a nil return? Perhaps there is a fortune to be made to secretly listen in to frustrated callers and write a book about their comments. HMRC – you have made Rider mad, but in a glazed-eyed sort of way.