SELF-ASSESSMENT - Revenue on fast track

Ambitious new guidelines designed to fast-track Inland Revenue self-assessment inquiries will prove difficult to meet, tax experts have warned.

The Revenue hopes non-controversial inquiries into taxpayers’ affairs could be completed in as little as ten weeks. Others opting for ‘faster working’ investigation – developed in conjunction with the self-assessment consultative committee – should be dealt with inside 24 weeks.

The revised targets are a massive leap forward for the Revenue, which has been used to completing investigations in about two years, with some cases taking five years to finish.

Richard Shooter, chairman of the English ICA’s self-assessment monitoring group, welcomed the investigations deadline, but remained sceptical. ‘It’s not unusual for investigations to roll on for a couple of years,’ he said.

‘The Revenue may well have difficulty meeting its targets as it’s a question of looking at the books and records in detail.’

Robert Maas, the English ICA’s SACC representative, said: ‘Accountants should go along with the voluntary code, but bear in mind both sides are making compromises.’

A Revenue spokesman said staff would cope with the new timetable: ‘We’ve been planning this for a long time.’