HMRC top the hospitality stakes
Do you know what makes me sad about the revelation that Dave Hartnett – permanent secretary for tax at HMRC – is the civil servant who holds the record for being treated to corporate hospitality over the last year (107 times we are told)? It’s not that he had the time to go out twice a week as well as help run HMRC, but that I’ve never been to an employer event that he has also been at to hear at first hand the concerns of the payroll profession who act as his army of unpaid tax collectors.
There is an impressive list in the Daily Telegraph of all the city firms whose hospitality he has enjoyed and of course they contribute lots of corporation tax and want to bend his ear on their concerns, but the payroll profession would also like the same opportunity – trouble is we only have conferences and user groups to invite him too and perhaps they don’t have the same cachet.
Perhaps next year his attendance at the IPP conference will be on the list revealed by the Government, albeit he might have to pay for himself!
Kate Upcraft
Payroll writer and lecturer
ISIS Support Services Ltd
kateupcraft@btconnect.com
