This client came to us from the South of England and was referred to our firm by their existing accountants. The client ran a restaurant and was being investigated by HMRC’s VAT and direct taxes teams. At the time we took over the case, HMRC were demanding a VAT, corporation?? tax and penalties of roughly ??300,000. Our team of tax investigation specialists thoroughly reviewed the case and found a number of areas that had been overlooked by HMRC. Our team then met with HMRC and agreed to look at matters further and negotiate a final settlement through ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution) meeting. At the meeting, our tax investigation specialists put forward a very strong case to defend our client and challenge HMRC’s assumptions. Towards the end HMRC officers accepted that the assessments raised were excessive and agreed to reduce the total tax and penalties payable to roughly ??20k. This was a substantial reduction in the liability and our client was delighted with the savings. We are grateful to the HMRC officers involved for their support, cooperation and professionalism displayed during this investigation.<\/p>\n
Our analysis: Tax investigations are a specialist area and appointing a specialist can save considerable amounts of tax and professional fee. Taking cheap and bad advice during the course of an investigation can lead to stress and serious financial difficulties including bankruptcy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"