It took HMRC well into the 21st century to accept that smart phones could be classified as mobile phones for the purpose of the statutory exemption on mobile phones.
Well, having embraced the technology, they are now sending out “threatening” text messages to taxpayers – pay up or…….
As a trial, they sent out 13,000 SMS messages to self-assessment taxpayers to pay their tax liabilities.
The messages were sent out at three levels
The first message was a simple standard message advising the taxpayer of the debt and the need to pay. The second message advised that HMRC would be monitoring to check whether the payment was made in the following week. The third message included the phrase: 'Most people pay on time to avoid penalties'.The trial, which involved taxpayers who had already been advised about their debts, was set up the Government's Behavioural Insights Team.
It was reported that there was a 2.3% points increase in HMRC receiving payment when a standard message was sent.
“Given that SMS messages are cheap to send, these results are very promising indeed.'
Other messages were sent to late taxpayers warning them to pay as they 'were late last time'.
Anita Monteith, senior tax policy adviser at the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales, told The Telegraph: 'People are always scared when they receive a message from HMRC – even the nice ones. Certainly anything threatening would not be acceptable.'
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