The issue

Mistakes in VAT accounting can result in unplanned additional cost, unwelcome administrative burdens, penalties and possibly an HMRC investigation. Getting it right can mean the financial position is improved, bring organisational gains and a reduction in tax risk.

Action required

iTax UK LLP provides technical advice on liability to businesses in advance of transactions taking place to enable businesses to avoid costly mistakes. Additionally, when a VAT visit is anticipated by a business, our team of ex-HMRC VAT visiting officers can conduct a VAT “audit” on your books and records using similar techniques used by HMRC. We will carry out a “VAT assurance visit”, looking at all the those areas that VAT officers would identify for scrutiny and, importantly, we would ask the same questions that HMRC would ask. Not only does this thoroughly prepare you for the visit, any problems found can be highlighted and dealt with, usually without financial penalties (as long as a visit has not already been arranged by HMRC).

Example

iTax UK LLP advised a client who had made a fundamental VAT liability error resulting in a sizeable VAT overpayment of £80,000. Using our experience of VAT visiting techniques and audit, we were able to find other areas where VAT had not been claimed or had been overpaid and, as a result, this significant sum of overpaid VAT was repaid to the client.”