Unexpected visitors

KEY POINTS

• HMRC make an unannounced visit at a business premises.
• Authorised officer procedure in FA 2008 Sch 36.
• Safeguards for the taxpayer.
• Unjustified visit given the facts of the case.
• Meaning of ‘inspect’.

When dealing with a recent HMRC enquiry one disturbing development (for the client especially) was that the officer dealing with the enquiry pitched up with a colleague unannounced at the client’s premises shortly before closing time and demanded to ‘inspect’ the operation of the till.

The client is the proprietor of a fish and chip shop which was ‘flavour of the month’ (no pun intended) for enquiry not so long ago. The shop was just about to close after the morning session.

Naturally a strenuous objection was lodged over this heavy-handed tactic...