Section 1 - General Information
The Information you will be asked for.
You will be asked to provide information that is necessary to check the entries on the return as well as any claims you have made. The information we will need will vary depending on what is on your return or included in your claim. If you have made a return and you have a trade, or other kind of business, or you are in a profession (in other words if you have to fill in the self-employment pages of the tax return) you will usually be asked to provide the business records covering the period of your accounts that is on your return. The letter asking to see your records will give you a date. You should let us have the records by that date. We usually give you about a month. If you cannot do this you should let the person who wrote you the letter know as soon as possible. They may agree to give you more time.
If you have any doubts about what you should send and when, telephone the number at the top of the letter and ask to speak to the person who has written the letter to you.
Advice on the records you should be keeping can be found at Record Keeping for the self-employed.
If you have made a claim without making a return, for example, if you have asked for your PAYE coding to be adjusted to take into account changes in your circumstances, you may be asked to provide further information or documents to support your claim.
Where do I get help?You can speak to the officer who has written the letter or if you prefer you can contact your local office.
You may decide that you cannot deal with an enquiry alone. You can appoint an advisor to help you at any stage during the enquiry. They can correspond with us on your behalf and come with you to any meetings.
We are unable to recommend anyone to you.
There are professional bodies representing accountants, tax practitioners and other advisers.
A professional adviser will cost you money. Help may also be given free of charge from some voluntary groups such as Citizens Advice Bureaux.
If you decide not to appoint an adviser we will help you all we can during an enquiry.
How do I reduce the risk of an enquiry?
Please ask us for help if you are uncertain about the entries you should make in your return. Our HM Revenue & Customs Advice Teams will be glad to help you.
It is your responsibility to make sure that you keep all the documents and information you will need to complete your return properly, or make a claim.
When we ask you to make a return, we will give you a time limit to do this. The normal filing date for returns is 31 January, so for example, we should receive a 2002/03 return by 31 January 2004.
You should ensure that you submit your return accurately and on time. If you cannot get the information you need by the time you have to send in your return you should make an estimate to the best of your knowledge and include it in your return. We call these temporary figures "provisional" figures.
You should only use provisional figures when despite all reasonable efforts you cannot get final figures. You should use the white space on the return (for 2002/03, box 23.5) to tell us: -
- Which boxes on the return contain provisional figures
- Why you are unable to give the final figures
- When you expect to be able to let us have the final figures.
Provide the final figures to us as soon as you have them. The time allowed to make changes to a return ("amendments") is 12 months from the normal filing date (31 January). But you should still tell us about changes after this date.
The same rules apply if you find that you have made a mistake in your return. You should let us have the amended figures without delay. You should not wait for us to contact you.
Where the mistake has resulted in an overpayment of tax, you may be entitled to make a claim for "error or mistake" relief within 5 years of the normal filing date. This is a complex area on which we are happy to give further advice.
If we do not ask you to make a return, you may still make a claim for allowances, or ask for your coding to be adjusted during the year if you are employed under PAYE. If you make a claim outside a return, we may enquire into it to make sure that it is correct. You should ensure that you keep all the documents and information you need to complete the claim properly. See How long must I retain my records
Accounting years before and after the enquiry year.
If we have found during an enquiry that changes are needed to your tax return this may also affect earlier or later tax years.
For example, if you have completed the business pages of the tax return and have shown less profit that you really have earned we may want to consider if the same situation will apply to earlier or later years.
Often your next return will be due while we are enquiring into your last return. You should still send in your returns on time If we think our enquiry will affect your tax in future years we will also enquire into these returns.
If we think changes are needed to the returns you made before the enquiry year we will ask you about these earlier years and try to agree the figures with you.
For further information go to Contract Settlements
You must keep adequate records to make a correct and complete return or claim. The records you keep and how long you have to keep them will depend on your circumstances. If you are self- employed or you are letting a property you will need to keep more records than someone who is employed under PAYE. The officer conducting the enquiry may want to see all the records you have used in arriving at the amounts you have put on your tax return. Booklet SA/BK3 gives you all the information you need on record keeping. Please take some time to look at it. Alternatively our link Record Keeping will take you into record keeping advice on our Starting in Business pages. Even if you have been running a business for some time, you may find the advice useful.
During an enquiry it will cut down on your time and costs if you can show that the records you have kept are complete, accurate, well organised and were written up on a regular basis. The type of records you need to keep will depend on the type of business you run, or if you are not in business, on your personal circumstances. Our Business Support Teams can give you further help and advice on good record keeping. Contact the Helpline 08459 15 45 15 for further information.
Closure Notice
At the end of an enquiry, we will send you a letter confirming that our enquiries are ended. This letter is called a closure notice because it closes the enquiry.
If we have found any errors in your return, we want you to be confident that you will be able to complete your next return correctly. The officer will discuss any changes you need to make so that you are clear about what to do in future. If you are in any doubt, please ask for help.
Where any change is needed to your self-assessment figures we will amend the self-assessment figure. If there is extra tax or National Insurance Contributions due this will be added automatically to you tax statement of account. The computer will work out if any extra interest is due and add that in. The closure notice will tell you what tax you owe or if any refund is due.
If you do not agree with what is shown on the closure notice or you do not agree with the figures, you can make an appeal. Attached to the closure notice will be an appeal form you can use. You can also write to us and say you want to appeal. The closure notice will tell you how to make an appeal
Sometimes at the end of an enquiry you will not get a closure notice. This may be because we have found out that you should have paid extra tax in the earlier tax years and in some cases later tax years or because we have charged you a penalty.
If we have found something wrong with your return or claim you may have to pay a penalty if you did not take enough care to get things right. We will have told you about this earlier in the enquiries. You will have been asked to agree the extra amount of tax and Class 4 National Insurance Contributions you have to pay. If we cannot agree figures with you, we will issue formal notices charging you the tax interest and penalties we think are due. You have the right to appeal against these.
If we have reached agreement with you, instead of the tax and interest being added to your statement of account, we may prepare a special type of letter for you to sign.
We do this because it is often easier for you and for us to agree one amount to cover all years' tax, Class 4 National Insurance Contributions, interest and any penalty.
This special letter is called a "letter of offer" because it offers a lump sum to cover tax interest and penalties. You do not have to use this letter you can use your own but you have to word it particularly carefully as it forms a legally binding contract between us. Most people choose to use our letter.
Our leaflet IR160 gives more information about contract settlements. The officer will have given you this leaflet if he or she thinks these circumstances apply to you
If we have suggested a contract settlement but you are unable to pay in a lump sum, you may be able to pay in instalments. This is normally only acceptable under special circumstances. You can discuss this with the officer who is making the enquiries.
| Home | ||||
