VAT investigation

[realityhack]

A contractor colleague sat next to me has just received a call from HMRC, saying they're conducting a VAT investigation, and would like to come round to his house and take a look at documentation etc.

I advised him to speak to his accountant right away (He's on the phone now).

Any advice on his initial moves?

[BrilloPad]

A contractor colleague sat next to me has just received a call from HMRC, saying they're conducting a VAT investigation, and would like to come round to his house and take a look at documentation etc.

I advised him to speak to his accountant right away (He's on the phone now).

Any advice on his initial moves?

Invite them round them kill them and bury them under the patio

HTH

[realityhack]

Accountant says 'nothing to worry about', they'll have to liaise directly with them, and all the documentation is tip top.

Could this be a false alarm? We hope so. Tune in next week for more exciting tales from the code face.

[moorfield]

Accountant says 'nothing to worry about', they'll have to liaise directly with them, and all the documentation is tip top.

Yes, don't panic, and hide behind the accountant. Shouldn't be a problem if copies of all invoices, vat returns, bank statements are available to prove it's all been calculated correctly and paid on time.

[BlasterBates]

normally gets triggered if something has flagged, such as when a form wasn't filled out correctly. Hopefully a false alarm.

[BrilloPad]

normally gets triggered if something has flagged, such as when a form wasn't filled out correctly. Hopefully a false alarm.

I thought they tried to do a routine visit in first few years?

[Jubber]

Sounds like a standard 'visit' to me. I thought that they try to visit all traders on their patch every three years? This may have changed. I will ask my contact.

[Gonzo]

I advised him to speak to his accountant right away (He's on the phone now).

Any advice on his initial moves?

Yes, speak to the accountant.

But, from everything I have ever read (I haven't had an inspection myself), the VAT people are nice people so long as you don't get on the wrong side of them.

So, provided the returns and payments have all been up to date, it probably is a friendly visit.


My local VAT office keep inviting me to seminars that they put on to help local business out. They probably don't realise the effect that it has on you when you see a brown HMRC envelope that you are not expecting appear on the doormat.

[xoggoth]

I had a VAT inspection early on, the chap stayed about 20 minutes and said everything's fine. A contractor's affairs are pretty straighforward from a VAT point of view, if your accountant says no probs there probably aren't.

[ChimpMaster]

What's the likelihood that this could escalate into further investigations, such as IR35 - even if the VAT side is clean?