Church and State blog: HM Revenue and Customs (day 11): Declan has written to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Will he be able today to submit his return online without facing prosecution, when he could have done so last February (WITH UPDATE 28/08/20)

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

HM Revenue and Customs (day 11): Declan has written to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Will he be able today to submit his return online without facing prosecution, when he could have done so last February (WITH UPDATE 28/08/20)

Our Church and State website has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar (updated today).

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population". Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).

For the first time in the life of Network for Church Monitoring, Declan has been prevented from delivering a Company Tax Return (CT600) for Corporation Tax with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) using their online services. Since 16 August, every time he tries to submit his return online, the company's gross profit figures for the accounting period to 31 January 2020 and the previous accounting period are deleted in the accounts before submission. This was not a problem last February when he could have filed with HMRC accounts that were accepted by Companies House earlier this month. He has heard back from HMRC this morning. He has been asked to delete his submission and to create a new submission. No issue has been identified as an explanation for what has happened and the inconvenience caused. Last Friday he brought to the attention of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Rt Hon Jesse Norman MP, this recorded letter to Jim Harra, Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary at HMRC:

21 August 2020

Mr Jim Harra
Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary
HM Revenue and Customs
100 Parliament Street
London
SW1A 2BQ

UTR: ****************

Dear Mr Harra

I have been unable to submit my return online for the past six days. I sent my complaint using your online form on 17/08/2020. The complaint is still being processed (ref: ASV-BPR7-650).

I respectfully request that I be permitted to submit online the return that I could have filed on 16/02/2020, including accounts that were accepted by Companies House on 09/08/2020. On 17/08/2020 I paid the corporation tax that HMRC calculated in that return at https://www.scribd.com/document/472712505/Company-Tax-Return-CT600.

Yours sincerely

Declan Heavey
Managing Director
Network for Church Monitoring

Only this month has Declan been prevented from submitting the return above because the draft accounts produced for his approval prior to filing are prosecutable. The gross profit figures go from this (correct):

... to this for his approval prior filing (incorrect):

UPDATE 28 August (10.50am): Two days ago, Declan deleted his submission and created a new submission. This was the 11th day in a row that he tried to get HMRC to accept his return for Corporation Tax. At last he was successful and HMRC accepted his accounts this morning. He does not have to pay one penny more or less in corporation tax based on HMRC's calculation in the return last February. This is his email to HMRC highlighting that no issue has been identified by them as an explanation for what has happened and the inconvenience caused:

For the attention of Lesley Regan, HMRC Ministerial Correspondence Team, Solicitors Office and Legal Services (ref. CETO/28239/2020)

Pauline Parker
Complaints Manager
HMRC Digital Complaints Team

Address removed for email

26 August 2020

Dear Ms Parker,

Thank you for your email about the problem I am having with the submission of my return online for Corporation Tax.

Before I commence the workaround you suggest by selecting the 'Create a new submission' button on the 'Track your submissions' page, please find attached a screenshot of the 'Track your submissions' page that you have no access to.

The 'Track your submissions' page reveals that I selected the 'HMRC only' filing option (as in previous years), although I note that you have not identified this or any other issue as the explanation for what has happened and the inconvenience caused.

I will now start a new return by selecting the 'Create a new submission' button on the 'Track your submissions' page. I will also be sure to make a screenshot of every page as I progress through your submission process.

If after trying the workaround I am still unable to submit my company return, I will then provide you with a file containing all of these screenshots for your further investigation.

Yours sincerely,

Declan Heavey
Managing Director
Network for Church Monitoring

Who can say that Declan does not have opposition?

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Headquarters in Gogarburn. The RBS owns National Westminster Bank (NatWest).

Declan currently has NatWest Bank (owned by The Royal Bank of Scotland) before the Financial Ombudsman Service for the cancellation of a replacement standing order on the Network for Church Monitoring business account without his knowledge or consent. And this after he received an email from RBS on 17 February confirming that this standing order was active, as well as £100 compensation in recognition of his "time, travel costs and inconvenience" in setting up this and another replacement standing order on 12 February. He has been waiting since 25 February for NatWest Complaints to confirm who cancelled the standing order between this email on 17 February and the non-payment of his salary on 24 February. His salary continues to be paid online by quick transfer from the business account to his personal account pending this explanation.

25 August: Facebook's first quadruple block (day 22). Declan may have to ask an ombudsman to look at his complaint against NatWest afresh. It seems that the bank are still saying, in effect, that there was no active Standing order payable to himself on 17 February despite RBS's email to the contrary

The vast majority of my emails seeking permission to republish material on Church and State have been blocked since last March. This applies in particular to articles relating to space travel. What's so special about space travel?

24 May: Excessively targeted category: One of these 24 emails Declan sent to knighted professors yesterday has been read this morning. The only one read! Today Declan will try getting through to 21 Nobel Prize laureates (WITH UPDATE 27/05/20)

"Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr (1930-2020), (then) President, Americans for Religious Liberty

Church and State

MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
DAY 406 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A SECTION 21 NOTICE

(SEE PARA. 3 BELOW)

1. Our 308 Honorary Associates include 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Declan and I are engaged in a project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., climate change, population, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a non-profit company limited by guarantee, our main publication, found at the website, Church and State, calls attention to subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. We have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in threats to Declan's life, and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.

2. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the Church and State website from 20 Honorary Associates, eight articles, nine book excerpts and 33 petition signatories. (For example, one Nobel laureate signed our Nobel petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and gave us permission to excerpt from one of his books.) Our list of associates also includes 18 US National Medal laureates, and six Turing Award laureates (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in computer science). We have published one article and excerpted from the books of seven members of the British House of Lords. And there are 31 knighted professors on the site from 13 Honorary Associates, one book excerpt and 21 petition signatories. These figures are despite the never-ending assault on our email (this link reveals the targeting of our emails to, among others, a close colleague in Washington, DC as well as space advocates and Nobel laureates).

3. This is Day 406 for us living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' eviction by Peabody Trust.[1] We live in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property. Peabody's appalling new terms of tenancy have forced us into an unstable weekly periodic tenancy that poses a threat to Declan's life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. Declan accumulated quite a history with the Housing Ombudsman Service before he received the Ombudsman's decision not to investigate a referral from Lyn Brown MP on jurisdictional grounds. The Ombudsman was asked to consider whether or not our tenancy has been renewed like for like; and whether, if not, it should be in light of the landlord having accused us of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will not accept a referral of discrimination from Ms Brown, the Commission's helpline (EASS) having grossly distorted the complaint against Peabody. We no longer have pro se access to the courts (see next paragraph).

4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Ruth Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us. Declan currently has before the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman the decision of the Information Commissioner that allows St Mungo's to continue processing coercive support plans without our knowledge or consent and that also poses a threat to his life.

5. When it comes to traffic, we have had 10.7 million hits in the past three years on Facebook; however, I left the platform on 13 March 2021 for one year rather than risk being banned for life. It is indisputable that with any sort of level playing field Church and State would have far exceeded 2.5 million hits last year. In addition to a large variety of blocks without explanation, Facebook had so severely restricted our Page's distribution by October 2020 that it was almost as good as an unpublished page.[2] Currently, we are up to their 85th block since 1 December 2015, and as usual without an explanation. This block records as one half of their 3rd double block in the first five weeks of this year that lasted 60 days. Our traffic has also been curtailed by over 2.5K blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016, including 29 full distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since 17 May 2019 that have lasted for as long as 54 hours at a time.[3] About 70% of our hits are from Americans.

"This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site." Don Collins, Founder, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC

Last updated: 26/06/21

_________________________

[1] Once a fixed term has elapsed, the landlord has the option to seek eviction even if the tenant has upheld their obligations in full (though of course the landlord must still apply for and obtain a county court order).

[2] 17/10/20: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page

[3] Since October 2019, we have been defining a full DDoS attack as having such a high volume of up to 4-minute blocks on access to Church and State that we don't bother recording them all.

Church and State blog

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

HM Revenue and Customs (day 11): Declan has written to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Will he be able today to submit his return online without facing prosecution, when he could have done so last February (WITH UPDATE 28/08/20)

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