I can’t really express just how much this has annoyed me.

During the early period of Covid and through the winter of 2020 into 2021 I had my most worrying time in 25 years of being in business.

During that winter we were 85-90% down on trade for week after week, it was absolutely horrendous.

I decided to use the furlough scheme to a very limited extent and even though I only actually needed my staff for 10-20% of their normal working hours I not only claimed less than I could’ve done but I also paid everyone their full wage EVERY month.

Nobody got dropped to 80% like I could easily have done, nobody got made redundant, I just took it on the chin and paid them in full.

Then in the January of last year I got an official brown envelope from HMRC telling me i had been selected for a “Compliance Check” on my furlough participation.

Anyone on here who has run a business and who has dealt with HMRC will likely admit that they are horrible to deal with.

I’ve had 4 or 5 vat inspections during my time in business and they always find something.......they seem to work on a presumption of guilt and work backwards from that!

First ever inspection I ended up with a £90 fine due to an invoice wrongly entered into the wrong accounting period and interest was then charged on my early claim.

Hardly the crime of the century but I accept it was wrong and that £90 fine justified someone’s job at HMRC.

My vat checks were always so clean though that it’s now been a few years since we’ve been done albeit I guess saying that has tempted fate knowing my luck.

Anyway, back to the “Compliance Check” started in Jan 21.

The stress this letter caused at a bad time was hard to express if I’m being honest.

I have a very good accountancy firm who do all my payroll and they kindly took my on the check paperwork on my behalf.

Four months later my accountant had heard nothing back so she contacted the agent at HMRC dealing with our case and we received a very curt letter telling us NOT to contact them and they would contact us IF they required more information.

A year went by and .......nothing!

Eventually I got the official letter from them....15 F KING MONTHS later and the decision.......everything is fine.

Simply not good enough.

You can never be sure whether you’ve sorted ever “i” and crossed every “T” with HMRC and complied exactly to their pettiness so that 15 month wait was purgatory for me.

I ended up being able to not only get my business through this period but also take on 3 new members of staff, I used the scheme in the way it was meant to be used and have given work to 3 guys made redundant during Covid.

I’m fuming about Sunak and his wife.

A poor businessman who runs businesses into bankruptcy whilst fleecing millions in government handouts.

On this forum only BaggieAl and Boingy know how badly I have struggled with anxiety and depression over that Covid period ( through talking in person and on personal messages ) and the stress from that 15 month “check” was a massive factor.

I hope Boingy reads this because due to him and some advice he gave to me my life has improved immeasurably in the last 4 months.

But Sunak needs to go.......what a horrible little man to let his wife “ r a p e “ the system in this way when he’s the man implementing the scheme and running the country’s finances.

His position is untenable, I can’t vote Tory if he’s in the treasury next time around.