Why Your Sussex Based Small Business Needs Accountants Sussex Based
Being notified that you or your business is under investigation from the taxman can be one of the most stressful moments of your life. This can be especially amplified if you feel you have done nothing wrong. Anger, frustration and disbelief can take over. But it’s important to buckle down, stay calm and get in touch with a good tax return accountant and accountants Chichester wide with speciality in handling tax investigations.
It’s important to take the right steps to get through this investigation. First of all, as we alluded to above, remain calm. Don’t call HMRC in anger and complain straight away as it is highly unlikely that it will change anything and won’t make you feel any better. Instead, find the right accountants Chichester way with experience in dealing with tax investigations. But before you even do that, there are steps that you can take to help your position. First of all, don’t get rid of any documentation. It looks bad. If you haven’t been keeping a full record of your financial accounts, seek replacement documentation such as bank statements. If there are any gaps, this is where your Chichester accountant can help. While we did say that you shouldn’t phone up HMRC in anger, you should eventually call them to seek any sort of clarification on what issue the taxman has with your accounts. While it is easy to have the perception that the tax inspector is out to get you, their own HMRC guidelines state that they should co-operate with all sides to resolve any issue in a “non-adversarial” way. So the taxman doesn’t want to bury small businesses, they want to resolve the issue in a manner that is positive for everyone.
During this clarification with HMRC, it’s important to work out what type of investigation your business is receiving. This generally falls into three categories: full, aspect and a random investigation. A full enquiry will look at your whole tax return and an aspect investigation is where it is one or more parts of your tax info is being re-assessed. But a random enquiry is a full investigation that relates more to the industry and area that your business is within and has been deemed higher risk. It is often small-to-medium sized businesses that will receive such investigations. All of these investigations should be treated seriously. So irrespective of what is being investigated, you need to ensure you have tax return help in place. This is because without having Chichester accountants in place, you are fighting an uphill battle. HMRC know tax inside-out. If you are planning to try and take this on alone, be aware that you are taking on a system with decades of experience and a committed workforce. If you have little to no experience in tax issues, you have a very slim chance of succeeding in overcoming this investigation.
So you need someone with experience in tax issues; you need accountants Chichester way to help you get through this investigation. So make sure to find contractor accounts specialists with experience in helping small and medium sized businesses successfully fight tax investigations.
