What Is My Risk Of A Tax Investigation?

Whilst certain individuals or businesses may be at higher risk than most, any one individual or business who has to file a tax return, could potentially be at risk of a tax investigation. Ritchie Phillips tax investigation accountants have considerable experience of all types of tax disputes and investigations, from the straightforward to full scale investigation where the most serious irregularities are alleged and we will help you achieve the best possible outcome as swiftly as possible.

The risk of a tax investigation

An HMRC tax investigation is often tiggered by the late filing of a tax return, late payment of taxes, or as a result of mistakes, however small, in a tax return. Other things that may result in a tax investigation is a sudden drop in income or increase in outgoings that can be set off against income.

There are also various high-risk industries or businesses such as those with a particularly high level of outgoings for their sector, businesses or individuals who use offshore bank accounts and those with income from property, all of which may be at an increased risk of a tax investigation. Investing in schemes viewed by HMRC as tax avoidance strategies inevitably puts the investor at a high risk of an investigation but HMRC also conduct a number of random investigations each year or may investigate your affairs as a result of information from a third party.

How you react when that brown envelope informing you of the investigation lands on your doormat can make all the difference to the outcome, and how quickly things can be resolved. At what has the potential to be an extremely stressful time, you need an experienced tax investigation accountant who can deal with HMRC on your behalf, advise you about the appropriate scope of the investigation, your investigation strategy and what the likely outcome and therefore the best course of action is.

If you would like to speak to one of our tax investigation accountants, please get in touch.