So many taxpayers, so little time

24 March 2005 / Simon Sweetman

Issue: 4000 / Categories: Comment & Analysis , Companies

SIMON SWEETMAN looks at the outcome of Revenue enquiries into small businesses, and wonders whether all this effort is misplaced.

MY BUSINESS IS tackling serious tax problems encountered by small businesses so I see quite a few enquiry cases launched by local Inland Revenue offices. It also means that the cases that I see are not those that run smoothly. Indeed some of them do not seem to run very smoothly at all.

This article looks at current Revenue practice on enquiries into small business. It is based on figures from the Revenue's report on statistics gathered from Abbey Tax Protection and on long personal experience.

Consigned to the past

I joined the Revenue in 1971 and an increasing part of my job was always investigation and enquiry work going through the changes in 1976 which introduced the ERA (enquire review or accept) system of accounts examination and a systematic approach to the selection of what were then investigation cases. All that is ancient history...

If you or your firm subscribes to Taxation.co.uk, please click the login box below:

If you are not a subscriber but are a registered user or have a free trial, please enter your details in the following boxes:

Subscribe Now...

Alternatively, you can register free of charge to read a limited amount of subscriber content per month.

Once you have registered, you will receive an email directing you back to read this item in full.

Please reach out to customer services at +44 (0) 330 161 1234 or 'customer.services@lexisnexis.co.uk' for further assistance.