In accordance with recommended best practice from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, one of the services which Chapman, Robinson & Moore offer to our clients is a Tax Investigations Fee Protection Service. This is open to all people for whom we prepare tax returns, whether personal, partnership, company or trust.
Taking advantage of this opportunity means that in the event that you are selected by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for an enquiry then you do not need to worry about the costs of CRM defending you. These could otherwise run into thousands of pounds in the case of a protracted enquiry; instead the fees are met in full by Abbey Tax.
You do not need to have done anything wrong to be selected for an enquiry by HMRC – an enquiry could be a result of a random selection, being involved in an industry which they are taking a particular interest in at that time, your income and expenses varying from industry norms or as a result of a significant enquiry into your customers or suppliers.
Over the past 2 years the Revenue have become increasingly aggressive when dealing with investigations and Inspectors are continually being targeted and, it has been reported, incentivised, to produce higher yields. In 2005/06 HMRC collected an additional £5.7billion from investigation work!
Full blown investigations on average take 2 years to settle and costs can run into several thousand pounds. Furthermore, Aspect Enquiries are also becoming more detailed and complex and are no longer the simple queries we received as part of the checking process of Self Assessment when it was first introduced.
- No one is immune from Enquiry.
- Every day you are at risk of being randomly selected for investigation.
- In 2005/06 HM Revenue & Customs collected an additional £5.7 billion from investigation work. You could be next.
CRM have also negotiated favourable terms with our insurers and extended the standard cover above the level normally available in the market place so that our Service includes Income Tax and/or Corporation Tax Aspect Enquiries. Please note these Enquiries, where HMRC is merely raising a routine Enquiry into a part of the Self Assessment Return, have an excess of £250 and a limit of £1,750.
By subscribing to this Service, Business clients also receive access to a 24hour Business Legal Helpline providing Employment, Health & Safety and Commercial advice at no additional charge.
If you run a business through a partnership or limited company, then paying the business premium also covers the partners/working directors’ personal return where the reason for opening the enquiry is in relation to the business and follows an enquiry into the company/partnership. There is no additional charge for this, although if a personal enquiry is raised over non-business items, such as rental income, capital gains or investment income, then you would need to have taken out a personal policy to be covered in this eventuality.
We feel this is of real value to our clients. The cost of defending yourself from an enquiry into your personal or company tax return can amount to thousands of pounds, even where there is nothing or very little to find. Subscribing to this service will take away the concern over having to weigh up the cost of defending yourself from attack by the Revenue against the extra tax they could be wrongly seeking from you.
To discuss this in more detail, please get in touch with either your normal contact at CRM, or alternatively Alan Sowden on 01865 379272. Alternatively please e-mail Alan with your queries or with your contact telephone number to find out more.
