Tax Investigation Service

Since the introduction of self-assessment, the tax authorities have increased the regularity of their enquiries. They do not have to provide any reasons to justify opening an enquiry, and many cases are selected each year entirely at random.

We can and will deal with any enquiries as they arise on behalf of our clients but, as some know only too well, the time and work involved can be considerable. In our experience, HMRC entirely disregard the cost of professional help during any sort of enquiry, investigation or dispute, and so in spite of your best efforts to curtail proceedings, these can drag on and on. It is also our experience that, even though the cost of professional support can add-up to be considerable, it is very rarely a good idea to attempt to deal with HMRC yourself, especially when the amount of tax and/or National Insurance in question is substantial (as it often is).

Cover for your business and individual taxpayers
We had for some time been looking at ways to insure our clients against the cost of professional fees incurred as a result of tax enquiries, which can be difficult to set-up and expensive. This lead to the launch of our own Tax Investigation Service. For clients that do subscribe, our  insurance policy will pay for our costs (and those of any other professional help that is necessary) for dealing with: full enquiries and aspect enquiries, as well as VAT, PAYE, NIC and ‘IR35’ disputes.

Cover for the business owners too
The premium paid by business clients also includes personal cover for Sole Traders, all Directors, all Partners and all Company Secretaries. Cover does not however extend to any other business activity in which any individuals are engaged, nor will it include enquiries into rental income in excess of £50,000 per annum (before expenses), unless this option was selected beforehand.

Our service summary sheet outlines the various conditions and the circumstances in which a claim can be made.

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Essential 24/7 legal helpline for businesses also included
There is also a business legal helpline, which can be used free of charge, 24 hours a day to obtain advice on all aspects of the law as it affects your business. This helpline becomes available when the client subscribes.

The number of HMRC enquiries has increased, along with the number of completely random enquiries being undertaken. Accordingly, we are now advising all our clients to consider subscribing to this service, and effectively avoid the need to take out individual insurance policies, which can cost hundreds of pounds per year.

Best of all
Best4business Accountants & Co. Ltd. have negotiated very competitive block terms as we are the policyholders; we then make claims under our policy subject to a maximum indemnity of £75,000 in respect of professional fees for any one claim. Clients will be responsible for any fees that we cannot recover from our insurers.

We are delighted to be able to offer this essential service at very competitive rates for all our individual taxpayer clients, and business clients that are either subscribed to our Silver level all-inclusive package, or are not receiving an annual accounting service and/or have levels of annual sales turnover below £30k or above £1m. The charge is dependent on circumstances, but can be as little as £40/year.

For the majority of our business clients, and subject to terms & conditions, we offer this service for no charge at all; that is to businesses that have been with us for at least one year, and that are:

• subscribed to our Gold level all-inclusive package, or
• receiving annual accounting services on a fixed-price package, with an annual sales turnover greater than £30k and less than £1m

In all cases, this service is provided for 12 months, reviewed and subsequently renewed annually.