[darren Jones]

Hi fellow CC,

This morning i received a call from HMRC stating that they would like to visit me as part of a new Goverment initiative and scheduled an appointment for two weeks time. I was re assured that the visit is not an inspection but an opportunity for them to give me advice regarding book keeping etc. Has anybody else experienced anything similar. Im of the opinion that its an opportunity for them to look at my accounts prior to submitting my first years takings. worry is ive got only two weeks to get everything in order yipppeee.

[Joe H]

I accepted a similar offer 18 years ago when I was starting up as self employed.
Found it very useful.
In my home so it was very informal, and they were not pushy.
I would advise getting an accountant who knows what the tax man wants anyway - it would be an investment for many reasons.

[Simon@arenaclean]

If you have not got an accountant then take Joe's advice and find yourself one. If you are not confident in dealing with your own books you may find their visit very helpful. If it's informal then I certainly would not worry but I would talk to a professional as soon as you can for advice, you can of course do this all yourself, fill in your tax return etc but for £300/£400 the piece of mind is a bargain.

[clinton]

Make sure you cover all the jobs that you have done for cash etc and cheques...

Sounds like a chance to be nosey to me lol

[Andrew Briscoe]

My advice is DO NOT let them see your diary,
a friend of mine did and they asked why he had not accounted for certain jobs
ie 40 cash of Mrs Smith, they clobbered him for a fair whack.

Andrew

[Paul Heath]

It might be too late but for £70.50 per year you can get insurance to cover this sort of thing. Can't you say your on holiday then and won't be back from the Bahamas     Depends on what mood they are in but they have more powers than anyone else nowadays.Best of luck with Colin

[garry22]

The £ 70 is best spent on the Federation of Small bBusiness.

You get (the last time I looked) £ 50,000 worth of legal protection for tax investigations plus a whole lot more. It's a bit of a no brainer.

Also... take the advice about accountants. You'll get the money back easily.

Garry

[Neil Williams]

Always buy two of the same

Well let's hope they're not reading this forum then
If anyone else has any other 'helpful' advice it might be best if you do it by e-mail.

[JandS]

Thought 2 diaries was a given!!!!!!!!!!

John

[Joe H]

I dont have a problem Neil - only one diary per year.

[Griffus]

If you have carried out undeclared cash jobs then you may be in for a rough ride. If it is too late to put everything in order then it might be an idea to get this post deleted.

You use your own name for this forum and it's not exactly difficult to search posts by user.

Same goes to everyone on such an open forum, if you do not want the whole world to have access to your personnal information then think carefully.

[happy mondays]

If you have carried out undeclared cash jobs then you may be in for a rough ride. If it is too late to put everything in order then it might be an idea to get this post deleted.

You use your own name for this forum and it's not exactly difficult to search posts by user.

Same goes to everyone on such an open forum, if you do not want the whole world to have access to your personnal information then think carefully.

  : : very funny post imo, chill out  , dont you think that considering the current economic state our country is now in the IR do have much, much bigger fish to fry 

[murky]

I am in the FSB, they wont help you if you have deliberatley misled HMRC only if you have a genuine problem or if you feel you are victimised.

FSB came to a networking thing I go to and they said they are targeting farmers, barristers and car dealers sort of self emplyed people where they can get a real result.

Having said that a carpet fitter mate of mine had them round and they went through his diary checking the dates against the petrol tickets so he wasnt putting fuel in when he went up to see mum in London or similar.

Murky

[Michael Smallwood]

Cash jobs and diaries....

I trawl my diary every 2 - 3 months and total any uninvoiced items, then do a summary invoice to make sure they are not missed.

Cheers

Mike
Bill

[Dave_Lee]

I don't have an accountant, not had one for 25 years. Sure they may be more switched on to claiming expenses etc, and if anything I under - claim.
However don't anyone think that if you've got an accountant you can just leave everything to him, because at the end of the day, if something is wrong with your accounts - you are the one that's held to account. It's your responsibility, your accountant is simply an agent employed by yourself.
I did a job recently for a couple who had been in the Kitchen business. They were struggling in the recession and kept receiving demands for payment from the Inland Revenue. Their accountant kept telling them that everything was alright, and not to bother about their letters. One day a lady from the IR turned up at their premises demanding payment. She gave them an impossibly short time to pay and they went bust. Lesson - don't leave it all to your accountant.
Dave.

[Jason Ryan]

Agree with Dave, i had proplems with my accounts for a previous business. Nothing dodgy but basic things like being sent late and was fined twice......thort thats why i was paying my accountant to do it and not have to worry :

[JandS]

If your a sole trader like me it's simple really to do your own.
Straight forward income versus expenditure and claim for
everything.

John

[Neil Williams]

We had exactly the same thing happen.
At the end of that year I deducted the total of the fines from his invoice, sacked him and told him to take me to court if he really thought he had a case. Strangely enough he didn't

Agree with Dave, i had proplems with my accounts for a previous business. Nothing dodgy but basic things like being sent late and was fined twice......thort thats why i was paying my accountant to do it and not have to worry :