hmrc tax enquiry

jonoone

Can anyone offer advice on tax enquiry which I currently have.
Am self employed and have been for 20 odd yrs.
i have accountants who have sent in all my paper work for year in question
3 weeks ago waiting to hear now.
how long do these things take
am obviously concerned have major financial situation with c/c debts etc speaking to cccs tomorrow. If I am assessed fo unpaid tax shouldi i wait
to see what if anything hmrc say before paying off c/c debts??
help please in anticipation!!

jonoone

ps is this the right board to post??

dmg24

Yep, this is the right board x

jonoone

thanks dmg took your advice!
and posted here.

System

3 weeks is still very early given the thousands upon thousands of tax returns which were submitted at the very last minute and which still are in the process of being captured (input on computer). This is all done manually.

If you owe anything for 2006/2007 I would have thought your accountant would already have calculated that for you and asked to you pay it as the money would have been due to HMRC by 31/01/2008. Contact your accountant and ask him what your liability is. That's what you pay him/her for.

churchill23

most of us self employed trades men have been under enquiry at some time or another,it may be ramdon or not (they will not tell)If you`ve been hideing some cash or paying big chunks of your morgage or worst of all spending money on credit cards or nector cards then that may have sent out a red light on your account.Be warned dont tell any financial lies as the questions they ask you are the ones they know the answers to,never think you are smarter just be honest and upfront if you have nothing to hide,most people i know (including myself)were under investigation for over 12 months,some (like myself) had to pay no extra,some had to pay £15,000 immediatly,if you deal in cash and live in a nice place but only earn say £14,000 complete household then how can you afford it,it`s just a case of what money comes in can be the only money going out,good luck

churchill

jonoone

Have only turned over 15k in last 2 years .do very little cash jobs .
not sure what you mean spending money on credit cards or nectar cards?
i am in debt now coz not earned enough last 2 yrs.

jonoone

this enquiry relates to 2004-2005

Pennywise

Tax enquiries can take several months, and some go on for years. The tax inspector seeing your books and records is only the first stage. Once he has your books, it can lead to allsorts of other questions and demands to see lots of other documents. How long it takes and how detailed they go depends on what they find and what other "intelligence" they think they have about you.

Although some enquiries are claimed to be purely random, in my experience there is usually a reason, sometimes it is that the declared profits appear too low, sometimes, claimed expenses seem too high. You have to remember that they have lots of other sources of information, both from official sources such as land registry (if you move house), banks and building societies (interest paid), and also unofficial sources (such as the "report a tax evader" hotline!).

I would sit tight for a few more weeks until you receive the first letter back from the tax inspector. This could be a closure of the enquiry if they have satisfied themselves everything is OK. Alternatively, it could be an enormous long list of additional information and documents, in which case you need to prepare for a long drag.

By the way, why do you worry that you may have a tax bill to pay? If you have declared all income and not taken the mickey with expenses claims, then however long it takes to do, you should end up with your named cleared and nothing owed, especially if you have used a qualified accountant for the entire time as there should be no arithmetical problems in the accounts and returns themselves.

chappers

As has been said tax enquiries can take foreever but sometimes there isn't anything sinister about them i had a tax enquiry quite a few years ago, when I was trading as a sole trader, I think it was triggered by me having a nil return in the middle of two normal years, my accountant dealt with it and basically they wanted to know how I survived for a year on no income, I explained that i was out of the country for most of the year, they asked for all my paper work for the years before and after the nil year and that was the last i heard about it, until they sent my paperwork back with a letter saying thankyou everything seem sto be in order.

jonoone

Tax enquiry is for whole return 5/04/06. letter dated 12/07
my fin year is 1/09 to 31/08.
The info they requested from my accountants is for business records for yr ended 31/08/2005.is this right?
My accounts for this year had already been filed by my accountants as far as i know on time.
Had to take all records back to them plus private bank statements in january 08