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Randall and Payne accountants have been watching with great interest the changes in the way HMRC operates and the way in which its powers have increased. They have had many years experience of dealing with them, both as HMRC and as the separate entities of Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue.
HMRC are under increasing pressure to fill the government coffers and are using all means at their disposal to meet their targets, from debt collecting tactics to increased compliance investigations and they’re aiming to be able to use a whole raft of new criminal investigation powers.
HMRC’s exacting approach to compliance has resulted in a 64% jump in tax claimed back. Corporation Tax enquiries into large businesses were cited as the most lucrative activity, raising £12.6bn in additional tax over the last four years. Non-compliance investigations into small businesses and the self-employed yielded £359 million of additional tax in 2009, a figure that has declined over the last two years. VAT interventions were also an important source of cash, with a total of £10.4bn of extra tax raised since 2005/6.
In the past, if a company received a VAT or compliance inspection visit, they may have been able to expect a little bit of help from the inspector if they were making a few minor, honest mistakes. Now the attitude is totally different, with inspectors aiming to find fault and charge accordingly. They now even have the power to charge someone for mistakenly overpaying and can perform a ‘cross tax check’ inspection, where the inspector inspects, for example, VAT, PAYE and Corporation Tax all at the same time. Another inspection that is new is that of reviewing the business records in general to determine if they are of an ‘acceptable’ standard, making it unacceptable to hand over a carrier bag of invoices and receipts to your accountant once a year – the tax man will want to know that you have up-to-date records throughout the year, with substantial financial penalties if he/she is not satisfied.
Randall and Payne’s Will Abbott says: “ While no one objects to HMRC becoming more efficient and we all realise that the country’s enormous deficit has to be paid back with something, businesses already struggling to deal with the recession need advice on how to keep the tax man happy in a way that leaves them time to run their businesses. As experts in variable VAT rates and specialist VAT schemes, we take a pro-active approach to tax: we aim to review our clients books on a regular basis throughout the year and offer them training on Sage book-keeping. We have an ex-HMRC inspector on our staff and regularly contact HMRC on our clients’ behalf, as we’re used to the language they use and their expectations. Prevention is always better than cure, so by keeping abreast of changes in regulations and ensuring our clients are always up to date with changes that affect them, we aim to make any fault-finding type of inspection fruitless, keeping any additional tax or penalty charges to a minimum and new clients are offered an in-depth review of PAYE & VAT to ensure that they avoid future losses.”
Contact Will Abbott at Randall & Payne, Gloucester on 01452 723377
10 Wheatstone Court, Quedgeley, Gloucester GL2 2AQ |
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Randall & Payne is a brand name of Randall & Payne LLP. Registered in England & Wales number: OC345710.Rodborough Court, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 3LR.
Unless otherwise indicated we use the word partner to refer to a member of the LLP. Registered to carry on audit work and regulated for a range of investment business activities by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. A member of the ICAEW Practice Assurance Scheme. Google: Tax, VAT, Corporate Finance, Management consultancy, business advisers, accounting, business planning, business advice, accountants, accountant, adviser, Gloucestershire. Site by IsaacPartnership |
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