Business owners beware – after a very successful pilot scheme HMRC has decided to carry out a further 12,000 business record checks in the current financial year. Recently established businesses are most likely to be approached and a further 20,000 checks are planned for the next financial year.
Results of the pilot scheme showed that a massive 44% of businesses had issues with their record keeping and 12% had seriously inadequate records and could face penalties of up to £3,000.
For years Insight Associates been extoling the virtues of good record keeping to understand your financial position and to make good business decisions. From HMRC’s perspective good records are also an indication of how likely they are to receive the correct amount of tax – so it’s in their interest to notice inadequacies.
In brief you should pay particular attention to sales/purchase invoices, receipts, petty cash and general expenses. We’ve covered many of these topics on the Business Hub Radio show and you can read the articles and listen to our podcasts here
For more in-depth advice or details of our accounts audit procedure contact me, Garry Mumford, directly.