 HMRC lunches for the taxpayer
HMRC lunches for the taxpayer
12 MAY 2011: HM Revenue and Customs announcement today that it is again targeting restaurant owners in London and across the UK may actually be good news all round says PKF Accountants & business advisers.
John Cassidy, tax investigation and dispute resolution partner at PKF, comments: 'HMRC has long seen the restaurant industry as high risk in terms of tax evasion but has often tackled it in an adhoc way. Specialist teams who know a great deal about the industry should make the process of being investigated far less painful'.
HMRC is promising 'intensive bursts' of action to tackle the perceived problem and having started the exercise in London says restaurants in Scotland and the North west are next on the list with another seven teams nationally to follow.
John Cassidy says: 'I'd expect that these new teams are cross-compliance teams looking at all tax issues for each restaurant. This is probably a better approach than HMRC has traditionally taken. In the past, we have seen a local inspector doing the odd bit of investigative work on a restaurant and alleging tax fraud if the profits did not match unrealistic national or local averages. There was also the infamous tills project in 2006 when HMRC sent in staff unannounced to interrogate and reprogramme restaurants' electronic tills causing considerable disruption in some cases where they could not be reset.'
'Getting a visit from an HMRC team is never likely to be a pleasant experience, but a team of specialists ought to be able to avoid the sort of sweeping assumptions and mistakes that generalist officers often make. At a time when many have accused HMRC of dumbing down its operations through call centres and the like, this could be one step in the right direction. However, you can expect that HMRC officers will have checked out each restaurant in advance, in many cases eating at the premises and collating data on customer numbers, so the owners of any restaurant that does get a visit would be well advised to come clean on any tax irregularities immediately'.
'Restaurateurs who have been less than honest should seriously consider using a tax amnesty to own up before they get a visit. The current amnesty for plumbers, the Plumbers Tax Safe Plan, offers very similar terms to anyone who wants to make a full tax disclosure of tax irregularities and using it should save them money in the long run'.
ENDS
For further information, please contact: Andy Konieczko, PR Manager, on 020 7065 0537, andrew.konieczko@uk.pkf.com
Notes to Editors:
1. PKF (UK) LLP is a leading firm of accountants and business advisers with more than 1,500 partners and staff operating in 23 offices in the UK mainland firm, incorporating a whollyowned financial planning company and associated offshore practices. The firm specialises in advising growing and entrepreneurial/owner-managed businesses, AIM and fully listed companies, and also has extensive experience in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Principal services include assurance and advisory; taxation; consultancy; corporate recovery and insolvency; corporate finance and forensic. The firm has particular expertise in advising sectors such as hotels and leisure; mining and resource; public sector; real estate and construction; professional practices; not-for-profit; and medical. The firm’s web site is www.pkf.co.uk
2. PKF (UK) LLP also offers financial services through its FSA authorised company, PKF Financial Planning Limited. PKF (Isle of Man) LLC is a limited liability company registered in the Isle of Man. PKF (Guernsey) Limited is incorporated in Guernsey.
3. PKF (UK) LLP is a member firm of the PKF International Limited network of legally independent firms. The PKF International Limited network has around 17,600 people operating in 120 countries around the world.
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