Will your books pass inspection?

or might you be at risk of a £3,000 fine?

Keeping your accounting records up to date may not always be a priority, however, HM Revenue and Customs has announced plans to visit small businesses to inspect their record keeping.

Their rationale is that they feel that small business record keeping may not be up to scratch and therefore errors may occur and payments to the Revenue may be wrong or perhaps their hope is that they fall short of what is due.

If you are subject to an inspection and your books and records are found to be inadequate then the Revenue could charge a penalty of up £3,000. This could be in addition to any tax that may be due following the inspection.

If your books are in good order and you keep your accounts up to date then there is perhaps little to concern you. If, in all honesty, you don’t keep your records in the best of order then perhaps it is time to do so. For some this may mean just keeping on top of them on a more regular basis, for others it may give rise to the need to consider either using a new system or accounting software programme like SAGE or even looking to outsource your bookkeeping.

The inspections will be risk assessed and industry sectors will be targeted where the Revenue has identified previous issues. Perhaps, their first port of call and those most at risk will be businesses that handle cash as opposed to doing business on credit.

Get in touch to find out how we can help you