Beeley Hawley & Co Ltd

Business Records Check

HMRC have relaunched their business records check programme. The purpose of this is for HMRC to check the adequacy of the business records being kept by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

It is now HMRC’s intention to write to selected SME's to conduct an interview style call to assess whether they feel a face-to-face visit is required. The call will take approximately 10-15 minutes to enable the officer to assess the SMEs record keeping. If the officer making the call deems the records to be adequate, he will confirm his decision in writing and no further action will be taken.

If, however, he feels the records can be improved he will arrange for a colleague to call and make arrangements to visit the premises.

If on visiting the records do appear to fall short of what is required, recommendations will be given for improvements. If these recommendations are not adopted and have not improved at the time when a follow up visit is made, a first offence penalty of £500 will be considered (this will be reduced to £250 if it is in the first year of trading).

If on visiting the SME the officer finds the records to have been deliberately destroyed, a penalty of up to £3,000 may be charged.

It is important that you advise us immediately if any such telephone call is received. Please contact Ray Callingham for further advice on this matter.