HMRC have announced that they are extending their Business Records Checks programme.
These checks were piloted earlier this year and involved checks on the adequacy of Small and Medium Sized Entities’ business records. The pilots apparently found that around 44% of businesses visited had issues with their record-keeping, while around 12% of those visited had seriously inadequate records.
HMRC are now extending this activity from mid-September to cover a number of key areas across the UK. As part of this, the number of full-time staff employed on the programme will rise from 30 to 120.
HMRC are planning to complete up to 12,000 checks by the end of the current financial year, with 20,000 provisionally planned for 2012/13. HMRC are increasing the number of visits so it can refine the process, before final decisions on a national roll-out are taken in the New Year. If you have any concerns in this area please contact us.