Industry experts have slammed the Inland Revenue's new tronc guidelines, due to be released on 2 February, which were expected to clear up the confusion surrounding the system.
The leaflet, called E24, said to be the definitive guide to tips, gratuities, service charges and troncs, also covers income tax, national insurance, the national minimum wage and VAT, and includes 17 case studies to help clarify the points made.
However, tronc expert Steve Wright, an accountant with Wheawill & Sudworth, said the guidelines were "fuzzy" and would only serve to cause more problems. He said some of the case studies were "downright misleading", while other points had been skated around.
"There are so many examples, that to the untutored eye they appear to differ only slightly and the overall effect could be to add more confusion," he said.
The British Hospitality Association is also thought to be disappointed with the guidelines.
Finance director Martin Couchman said: "We're aware of the content of the Inland Revenue's publication, but there are still a number of unresolved issues which have been under discussion.
"It would also have been helpful if the leaflet had started with some kind of statement that set out what a tronc scheme should try to achieve," he added.
...As Mon Plaisir goes into liquidation
Mon Plaisir, London's oldest French restaurant, has gone into liquidation following a demand for £400,000 from the Inland Revenue's (IR) tronc inspectors.
Alain Lhermitte, who has owned the family-run Covent Garden restaurant for more than 30 years, went into voluntary liquidation last week after a three-year dispute with the IR.
The IR decided the restaurant's tronc scheme was being incorrectly run, despite approving Lhermitte's son Philippe as a tronc master in 1998. Lhermitte offered a payment of £30,000 to the IR last year but the sum was rejected.
The restaurant owner said after spending £60,000 on legal fees he was left with no other option but to close down his company, Mon Plaisir Ltd. He has since set up a new company - Mon Plaisir Restaurants - and has bought the restaurant back. "I know the IR inspectors are just doing their job, but I haven't done anything illegal and we had to do this or we would have gone bankrupt," he said.