Personal tax - Dealings with HMRC

Product mix reconstructionWhen carrying out a business economics exercise, the tax inspector will often use an industry average mark-up of purchases to selling price to construct a sales figure. But this simple calculation doesn't take into account yo... Read more

Enquiry - notice out of time letterHMRC must send a formal notice if it intends to start an enquiry into a self-assessment tax return. It has a limited time to do this. Before responding to any questions asked by HMRC check that the enquiry notice ha... Read more

What HMRC is likely to askThere's a pretty standard set of questions that the inspector will ask at interview. These are mostly designed to undermine the records you've kept and so allow them to make a demand for tax on missing income/profits or over-cl... Read more

Wastage/losses recordHMRC typically uses a mark-up of purchases to selling price to construct an anticipated sales figure. However, this doesn't generally allow for wastage/write-offs. So what simple records could you keep about "wastage"?Wasted stockProd... Read more

Letter to chase a tax repaymentRepayments arising from online filing of self assessment tax returns may be stopped for a variety of reasons, and HMRC staff have to look at them before they can be released. Contacting HMRC should help to speed up your... Read more

Challenge business economics exercise letterThere can be many reasons to challenge figures produced by HMRC following it carrying out a business economics exercise. The figures will be based on broad industry-wide assumptions some of which might not ... Read more