Effect of tax enquiries will be ‘negligible’

Effect of tax enquiries will be ‘negligible’

More than 1,000 new enquiries into corporate tax compliance have been launched by HMRC’ Large Business Service but the impact of it is going to be 'negligible' says tax associate at BDO Stoy Hayward, Steve Besford

hmrc logo

More than 1,000 new enquiries into corporate tax compliance have been
launched by HM Revenue & Customs’ Large Business Service over the past 12
months, according to a National Audit Office report.

The report into HMRC’s 2008/09 accounts shows 1,014 new enquiries were opened
using 19,744 compliance officers. This is in addition to the 3,970 existing tax
compliance enquiries.

Steve Besford, tax associate at BDO Stoy Hayward, said: ‘I would’ve expected
it to be more than that. The impact of that is going to be negligible and we
still don’t know the nature and the size of those enquiries,’ he said.

£8.2bn in corporate tax has been postponed within the Large Business Service
– of which £6.1bn is sums of £25m or more.

The report said: ‘Postponement cases can be extremely complex… the complex
issues involved often mean that it takes many years of litigation before
liability can finally be resolved.’

It also revealed that £42.8bn in corporate tax revenue was generated for the
Exchequer in 2008/09, £7.6bn of which came from the financial services sector –
a £4.8bn decrease on the previous year.

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource