HMRC are to relaunch the Business Records Check programme, starting today.
The programme began as a pilot scheme last April (2011) and by February of this year nearly 3,500 business records checks were made on small businesses. The results of the programme showed:
- 36 per cent had some problems with the manner of record keeping, 10 per cent of which has problems serious enough for HMRC to issue procedures and schedule follow up checks.
- Follow up checks revealed improvements in record keeping amongst flagged businesses.
The newly relaunched programme will focus on educating small businesses to make sure that:
- The correct tax is paid in good time.
- Reduction in the amount of interest charges and penalties due to errors and late payments.
- Providing HMRC with more confidence in the accuracy of figures provided by small businesses in the future.
What happens in a Business Records Check visit?
Letters are going out from today to the businesses HMRC believe may have inadequate record keeping procedures.
The letter will detail the following:
- HMRC will be phoning businesses to discuss the records they hold.
- They will go through a set of questions designed to assess record keeping procedures.
- The result of these questions determines whether a follow up visit will take place or not.
- The follow up visit entails checks to determine records are being kept and are adequate.
- Guidance is provided to help the business improve record keeping.
- A further follow up visit is arranged to check that guidance provided has been actioned.
Is there anything to watch out for?
If after a follow up visit, HMRC are not satisfied of proper record keeping procedures being undertaken, a penalty may be charged.
You can find more information about the scheme at the following link
here.
When are the visits taking place?
- London & Anglia – 26 November 2012
- South East England – 14 January 2013
- Scotland – 14 January 2013
- Northern Ireland – 14 January 2013
- Central England – 21 January 2013
- East of England – 28 January 2013
- North Wales & the North West of England – 28 January 2013
- South Wales & the South West of England – 4 February 2013
