An unpublicised law which has recently been enacted allows the Police to advise banks and credit card companies of the details of credit and debit cards used for unlawful purposes, such as accessing illegal images over the Internet. This will allow the financial institution concerned to cancel the card.

Previously, this was difficult to do because of the Data Protection Act, which prevents disclosure of such information in most circumstances.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have announced measures to identify taxpayers with complex personal returns (CPRs). CPRs are returns which show complex features such as substantial land, property, foreign or trust income or ones where there are issues of residence or domicile which will affect the assessment of income to UK tax.

CPRs are dealt with by specialist teams, who deal with all aspects of the tax affairs of their ‘customers’ (HMRC’s preferred term for taxpayers). HMRC are undertaking a process by which they intend to identify up to 6,000 new customers during 2006-7. If you are identified as a potential customer of the CPR unit, you will receive a letter advising you that your case is being transferred. CPR teams operate in very much the same way as tax inspectors used to work several years ago in that you will be assigned a tax officer (called a ‘caseowner’ in HMRC-speak) who will be the first point of contact for all communications.

It is safe to say that any self-assessment return assigned to a CPR team will be scrutinised more carefully than a ‘normal’ return. It is important, therefore, that if you do get a letter advising you that your tax affairs are being transferred to a CPR unit, you make doubly sure that they are in order.

It is by no means uncommon for passengers holding confirmed airline reservations to be denied boarding when the airline has overbooked the flight. Where flights are heavily overbooked, the incentives airlines give to those willing to be ‘bumped’ can be very generous. These can include money, free tickets and overnight expenses. However, a recent case spelled out some of the expenses airline companies will not be required to meet in such cases.

It involved a Dr Wiseman, who was denied boarding on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Port Harcourt (Nigeria) to London. Dr Wiseman sued Virgin, claiming compensation for hotel bills, taxi costs, extra meals and the like.

The High Court accepted that he was entitled to be recompensed for his reasonable expenditure. However, Dr Wiseman also claimed for expenses incurred by members of his ‘entourage’, who accompanied him in Port Harcourt, and for compensation for mental trauma and damage to his health caused by the delay. In addition, he claimed for expenses he incurred in reimbursing his former fiancée. He claimed that his relationship with her broke up because of his enforced stay in Port Harcourt.

The Court was not amenable to those claims. It would appear, therefore, that when a claim for compensation is made in such circumstances, the Court will normally restrict the award to only the reasonable expenses necessarily incurred by the person affected.

With the increases in value of share prices and property over the last few years, many people have taken the opportunity to realise capital gains on their investments. When they do so, it is common for their income to fall somewhat.

This can lead to a situation in which a capital gains tax (CGT) liability is created but there is an overpayment of income tax under the self-assessment system, because tax is paid ‘on account’ during the year of assessment. In such circumstances, any overpaid income tax will be used to settle the tax due on the capital gain. Only the excess of any income tax overpaid over the CGT due is repayable. Prior to the introduction of self-assessment, CGT and income tax payments and refunds were dealt with separately. This is no longer the case.

Although the move was almost unreported, the Government has passed into law legislation which is designed to make the collection of fines more efficient, but which also gives draconian new powers to fines collection officers in pursuit of those who do not pay their fines.

Among the new powers are:

• the power to break into the homes of defaulters to seize property;
• the power to conduct body searches of people subject to arrest in certain circumstances;
• the power to apply to the court for a fine to be increased by 50 per cent where the fine is unpaid due to neglect or wilful refusal on the part of the defaulter; and
• the power to clamp and seize vehicles.

The message is - if you have a fine to pay, make sure it is paid on time or risk the consequences.