The Crucial Stages
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has decided to examine your (or your company's) tax return.
If you have an agent he/she will get details of the information
the Inspector wants. Otherwise your letter will be longer
asking you for the information and/or documents they need.
The letter can be from a local office or one of the specialist
offices or teams and it can be an enquiry into one or two
Aspects of your return or a Full blown enquiry into all
matters in your return(s). Each type of enquiry needs it's own
response and I can handle these to your best advantage.
Stage 2- You respond - It is at this stage that Enquiries
and Investigations are either won or lost. How you handle it
sets the scene for the enquiry. Handle it wrong and you
could be in for a drawn out enquiry or worse an escalation to
formal powers being used.
If we can sit down and discuss matters we should be able to
see a way to
(a) giving HMRC the comfort they need to close the
enquiry
(b) managing the enquiry to resolve it to your best
advantage within the law
(c) casting an expert eye over your books and records
before HMRC's expert gets at them
You can rest assured that with my involvement
your stress levels should be minimised.
Stage 3- Managing the enquiry - Knowing just what
HMRC can and cannot do within it's statutory powers
enables me to protect your rights and interests in all
types of enquiries.
Even an open minded Inspector has to consider all the
possibilities. Put yourself in his/her position. What would you
be thinking if you found
(a) an amount of bank interest had been omitted from a
return or
(b) a sale hadn't gone through your books? or
(c) a personal expense had been claimed against profits.
All different possibilities might occur to the Inspector. This
can lead to drawn out enquiries and unwarranted invasions
of your privacy in an attempt to get to all the facts.
With early involvement in your enquiry and co-operation from
you I will be able to preempt such problems and
guide the enquiry to a satisfactory conclusion.
Stage 4- Agreeing the outcome - Given that some
enquiries can be randomly selected ( but see ) it is not
unknown for HMRC to have a "Nil" result.
This would be our aim - A "Nil" result (assuming you
have been forthright in our discussions and you have not
been intentionally understating your income).
If however profits have been understated then you will be
asked to sign important documents at some stage in the
enquiry and I can ensure that you are properly advised
on their completion and relevance.
Otherwise having hopefully been involved from the outset
my negotiation and presentation skills should
enable us to get the best result possible within the
law
Stage 5- Preparing for Settlement - (A bit late for me
being involved for the first time to get the best value possible
However even if I am only brought on board at this late stage
I am confident that from an appraisal of what has gone
before I should be able to save you my fee and more.)
If it is agreed in Stage 4 that your income has been
understated I can address with you and give you the
benefit of my experience of the commercial realities of
settling with HMRC.
If the unpaid duties are large enough you will find yourself
being asked to pay not only the duties unpaid but interest on
those duties and a penalty which statutorily could be as
much as the duties again.
However it is the practice of HMRC to accept a mitigated
penalty in any offer you want to make. I can give you the
benefit of my knowledge from over 30 years of considering
other Inspectors figures and submitting cases for the Board
of HMRC's approval to get you the best deal possible.
Properly armed with such information and with
strong negotiating skills enables us to offer an
acceptable amount taking into account the factors
of disclosure, cooperation, size and gravity.
In the unfortunate situation that things go wrong
with your enquiry at any stage I am always
prepared to either independently (or with your
adviser) review matters and provide possible
solutions for your benefit.
I am also prepared to consider and advise on work
carried out by other advisers.
Mobile
07751720507
Land line
01224 658962
Email:
bill@wamstaxltd.com
