As part of their ‘Compliance Matters' campaign, DSR Tax Claims Ltd have issued guidance to taxpayers to help them achieve HMRC compliance when completing and submitting their Self Assessment tax returns. Managing Director of DSR Tax Claims Ltd, David Redfern, has provided his guidance in the run-up to the Self Assessment deadline on 31st January to help taxpayers avoid falling foul of HMRC regulations thus risking fines and penalties.
By the 31st January deadline more than 11 million taxpayers should have submitted their Self Assessment tax return and paid any tax they owe to HMRC. However, many of those taxpayers will be unaware that HMRC are entitled to carry out tax compliance check to make sure that their Self Assessment tax return has been completed correctly, and those who refuse to comply or fail to provide the information requested by HMRC risk receiving a penalty. To minimise the risk that taxpayers will come into conflict with HMRC Redfern has issued his expert guidance to help ensure HMRC compliance.
Redfern's two key points are to ensure that returns are thorough and complete and for them to be truthful in terms of what is being claimed. Redfern stated that "Although it might seem convenient to forget small amounts of income, for example eBay earnings or small cash jobs, a compliance check can soon uncover these small omissions and may cause HMRC to dig even deeper into your accounts. Unfortunately, some taxpayers may think that their online selling activity goes unnoticed by the tax authority but they would be mistaken - HMRC check online sales as a 
matter of course. Similarly, it might seem tempting to inflate one's expenses as a way to lower any tax due but unless you can back those expenses up with invoices or receipts, you will have a tough time convincing HMRC they are genuine expenses".
While Self Assessment allows for the use of provisional and estimated figures, it is important to state clearly on the tax return that the figures are not exact data. Redfern commented "There are legitimate reasons why you might need to use provisional figures while you await final data, but you must make it explicitly clear on your tax return that these figures are not exact data. When using estimates, while again there may be valid reasons, it does increase the likelihood that HMRC will wish to investigate the legitimacy of these figures more closely. They may also reasonably ask whether you are keeping your records as thoroughly as is required. However, it is sheer foolishness to attempt to pass off estimated figures as exact data". He emphasised the importance of keeping of adequate business records as an essential part of financial good sense.
In addition to correcting mistakes and estimates as soon as possible once able, Redfern urged taxpayers to contact HMRC as soon as possible if they believed their Self Assessment tax return was incomplete or inaccurate. Redfern stated "HMRC takes a dim view of those taxpayers who attempt to deceive through the Self Assessment, but a sincere attempt to correct inaccuracies and a desire to attain compliance is always the best option. Mistakes do happen and people are not infallible but the sooner you alert HMRC to any issues and make a concerted effort to right any errors, this will go a long way to smoothing over any difficulties". DSR Tax Claims Ltd are running their ‘Compliance Matters' campaign until the Self Assessment deadline to increase awareness of compliance issues for taxpayers who are struggling to complete their Self Assessment tax return.
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