A letter from HMRC opening an enquiry is stressful, but you don't have to face it alone. We review your position, deal with HMRC directly on your behalf, and work to close the investigation on the best possible terms.
HMRC Investigation
HMRC can open an enquiry into your tax return or business records, sometimes at random, sometimes because something has flagged. It can range from a single question about one figure to a full review of your affairs. How you respond matters: giving HMRC too much, too little, or the wrong information can turn a simple query into a drawn-out and expensive process. Having an accountant handle it protects you.
Your Tax Help Accountants reviews exactly what HMRC is asking and why, gathers and presents the right information, and deals with all the correspondence and meetings on your behalf. We make sure you are not pushed into concessions you don't owe, that genuine errors are corrected fairly, and that any settlement, and any penalties, are as low as they legitimately can be. You get a calm, experienced buffer between you and HMRC.
The single biggest mistake in an HMRC enquiry is responding off the cuff. What you say and how you present your records shapes the whole outcome. Let an accountant manage the correspondence and the investigation usually resolves faster, and for less.
The Detail That Matters
An HMRC enquiry can range from a single-question check to a full review of your affairs. How you respond in the first weeks shapes the outcome, and having an experienced agent handle the correspondence usually means a faster, cheaper resolution and lower penalties.
HMRC opens aspect enquiries (one issue) and full enquiries (the whole return), plus compliance checks triggered by data mismatches, its Connect system, or random selection. Knowing which you face determines how much to provide and how to frame it.
HMRC must open most enquiries within set time limits, and you have rights of review and appeal. We deal with the information requests, keep disclosure proportionate, and stop the enquiry drifting into areas it need not cover.
Penalties are based on whether an error was careless or deliberate, and whether disclosure was prompted or unprompted. A cooperative, well-managed response, and disclosing before HMRC finds it, moves you to the lowest penalty band.
Where an adjustment is due, we negotiate the figures and the penalty, and can arrange Time to Pay on any settlement. Handled well, many enquiries close with little or no additional tax.
The biggest risk is answering HMRC yourself and volunteering more than asked, widening the enquiry, or missing that a cooperative, unprompted disclosure would have cut the penalty by more than half.
Key Figures
How We Help
We work out exactly what HMRC is questioning, review your returns and records, and identify where you are on solid ground and where care is needed.
All correspondence, information requests and meetings handled on your behalf, so you are not caught out and nothing is conceded that you do not genuinely owe.
Where something is genuinely due, we correct it and negotiate the settlement and penalties down to the lowest level the rules allow, and close the enquiry.
All the forms, calculations and correspondence handled on your behalf, so you never have to decode HMRC's rules or sit on hold.
A clear fixed fee quoted after a free call, your position explained in plain English, and never a surprise bill.
We act quickly, and where earlier years are involved we put those right too, reclaiming refunds or minimising penalties.
An HMRC enquiry left unmanaged can escalate, more questions, more years opened, bigger penalties. Handled properly from the start, most enquiries are contained and resolved. The difference is having someone who knows the process and deals with HMRC on your behalf, calmly and correctly.
Recent Client Outcome
A client received a full enquiry into their Self Assessment and had begun answering HMRC's letters themselves, volunteering extra detail.
What we did. We took over the correspondence, established it was an aspect enquiry into one figure, provided precisely what was needed, and made a small unprompted correction on another point with full disclosure.
The outcome. The enquiry closed with a modest adjustment, and because the disclosure was unprompted and cooperative, the penalty was reduced to the lowest band and suspended.
Managing the enquiry tightly, rather than over-answering, kept it narrow, quick and far cheaper than it could have been.
Why People Come to Us
Questions Answered
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Or email info@yourtaxhelp.co.uk, we typically respond within two business hours.
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