HMRC Investigations

For many years, the risks of an in depth tax enquiry by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have continued to increase. Since 2010 the number of investigations have doubled with the advent of their new Tax Evasion Detection system, named Connect. This software (designed by BAE Systems), along with new powers and what seems like an all vendetta against Tax Evasion have allowed them to increase their revenues by £1 Billion per year. It’s big business and they are taking it seriously!

HMRC officers are now using new powers to visit premises and inspect financial records, causing turmoil for small businesses with disruption and intimidation.  As a result, tax enquiries are becoming more complex and the professional costs of defence are rising.  So it is as important as it has ever been for clients to obtain protection against those costs.

Telegraph Article – ”HMRC investigations into savers' tax affairs double”

How can I protect against an investigation?

We have considerable expertise in defending clients under enquiry by HMRC.  If you are selected for a tax enquiry or a HMRC visit, we will aim to settle matters quickly and minimise the final tax liabilities.  Even so, answering all of HMRC’s questions takes time and the enquiry could drag on for many months.  It can cost thousands of pounds to defend you, whatever the end result. This specialist work is not included in our normal Fixed Fee Agreements which cover the annual accounting and tax work that we may do for you.

Last year we attended many such inspections and dealt with a number of enquiries. Whilst they varied in complexity, they were all very time consuming. For those clients that had the Taxwise insurance in place, there was no further cost involved at all. For those clients that did not have cover, the costs for dealing with the enquiries ranged from £800 for the simplest to £4,650 for one of the more in depth enquiries.

Our HMRC Investigation Insurance

To provide peace of mind, we operate a Tax Enquiry Fee Protection Service.  The Service is backed by an insurance policy under which we can claim the costs of defending clients in tax enquiries. We have managed to push down the price with the insurance company to ensure that we got the best possible deal for all our clients.

The policy also includes an excellent help line for all advice about the complex areas of Health & Safety and Employment Law. We use this service all the time and can highly recommend that you make full use if it once you sign up.

• Individuals –  £80.00 +VAT
• Sole Traders –   £97.00 +VAT
• Partnerships –  £160.00 +VAT
• Limited Companies –  £180.00  +VAT (this service includes the personal tax of the directors)

For more information about this service please don’t hesitate to contact us and we can send you a free information pack which can also be downloaded here.

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This will answer any questions you may have about tax enquiries, sets out  the details of our insurance cover and other benefits, and gives information about our insurance provider.