TAX INVESTIGATIONS & ENQUIRIES

It is an unfortunate fact of business life that you may well come under enquiry by the Inland Revenue or Customs & Excise through no fault of your own. The Inland Revenue now investigates businesses at random as well as for specific reasons. If you are selected at random, you need an accountant who knows how the Inland Revenue works and thinks and is prepared to fight your case and make sure that the Revenue keep to their own internal guidelines. In our opinion, a no nonsense approach often works best. We will talk you through the enquiry process and what to expect and support you throughout.

The Penalties -There are various penalties the Revenue can seek to impose following an enquiry for undeclared income. As well as having to pay the tax, you can find the Revenue seeking penalties of up to an amount equal to the tax, so doubling your tax bill as well as asking for interest on the late payment of the tax – not a pleasant experience. If this happens to you, we will show you how to minimise any penalties.

Anti-investigation scanning checks - Whilst with the introduction of random investigations anyone can come under investigation, you can help to avoid the chance of an investigation into your affairs for other reasons. We know the kind of things that will give rise to investigations if not fully explained to the Revenue when submitting information to them. Every Tax Return or set of accounts we submit to the Revenue goes through an anti-investigation scanning check to identify any areas that may lead to an enquiry before they are submitted without explanation. This really does help to minimise the chances of you being on the wrong end of a full enquiry.

Insurance -There are various schemes available to cover against the accountancy costs of defending you in an investigation and we can advise you on these. The accountancy costs of acting for you in a full enquiry can run into thousands of pounds and so it is important to consider this protection.