Tax Enquiries

A tax enquiry from HMRC used to be a fairly blunt instrument, being an often speculative trawl through a business’s or individual’s entire records for a year or more in the hope of turning up something of interest. This only happens rarely now as HMRC now rely on a range of third party information to help them choose targets for enquiry, often focusing on just one or a few aspects of the records rather than the whole lot. This data may come from card processing companies or banks, or registers such as the landlords register or lists of tradesmen registered with trade bodies, or sometimes from a tip off.

Whatever the source, any enquiry from HMRC, even a seemingly routine VAT inspection, can be a major source of stress, not to mention a drain on valuable resources. We have an excellent record in this area, not only in keeping our clients out of the tax man’s sights, but also in defending those clients who are unlucky enough to experience an investigation.

In the majority of cases we have handled in the last few years the final tax bill arising from the investigation has been negligible or often nothing at all! This is particularly true of cases where the client has subscribed to our tax investigation service.

Under the tax investigation service our fees defending you are covered by our insurer. This gives you peace of mind regarding the cost of your defence and enables us to provide full professional representation on your behalf to ensure you receive the best possible result.

Our usual subscription rates for our tax investigation service are as follows:

• Limited companies and partnerships, including personal cover for directors and partners who are also CMM tax clients: £150+VAT
• Sole traders with trading income in excess of £15,000 per annum, and individuals with property rental income exceeding £50,000 per annum: £132+VAT
• All other individual tax clients, including sole traders with trading income of less than £15,000 per annum: £45+VAT

The annual renewal takes place in October each year but clients can sign up part-way through a year. Contact us if you'd like more information on any aspect of the tax investigation service.