HMRC Business Records Checks scheme set to begin again

Reports have suggested that HMRC’s revamped Business Records Checks scheme is set to get underway once again.Contractor UK has reported that HMRC is preparing the paperwork that businesses targeted under the scheme will receive. The report suggests the new initiative will be a three-step regime with a new penalty system.Contractor UK references minutes from the most recent ABAB forum, and notes that “HMRC’s ‘improved’ approach to checking whether an individual’s paperwork is ‘adequate’ will hinge on a document sent to them by post.”Under the new system, it is understood that a letter to businesses will be the second step in the process, after identification but before a telephone call. The telephone call is expected to be used to help ‘de-select’ businesses that need a records check. Part of the aim of the new approach is to make the checks less heavy-handed on businesses and less onerous on HMRC.The minutes are quoted as stating, “Nobody had any difficulty in HMRC coming down hard on those who completely flout record keeping requirements – indeed there would be a lot of support for such actions – but there was wide concern that HMRC had much wider targets.”

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