Aiming for the TOP

THE CHARITY ORGANISATION TaxHelp for Older People ('TOP') provides free tax advice for older people on low incomes (up to £15 000 yearly household income) and much of the advice is given by volunteers drawn from the tax profession. Both pensioners and people on low incomes have particular problems with the tax system put the two together and you have a clientele that is very poorly served for tax advice. The chances of their being able to find an HMRC office locally get smaller every month as the department tries to get more and more taxpayers doing business on-line or by telephone; means of communication with which many older people are not at all comfortable. Added to which the costs of professional advice on a fee-paying basis are beyond the means of those on low incomes — and uncertainty about the final amount can be very worrying...