| WAMS Tax Ltd |
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| Tax Enquiry & Investigation- The Crucial Stages |
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| Stage 1- The Letter arrives- either telling you that HMRC 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. |
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| Bill Stevenson |
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| Contact me: Mobile 07751720507 Land line 01224 658962 Email: bill@wamstaxltd.com |
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| Let me take care of all the stress in your enquiry |

| Bill Stevenson Your Skilled Negotiator |
| Tax Enquiry & Investigation -The Crucial Stages |