ARTICLE · 05 SEPTEMBER 2012

Business Record Checks - August 2012

Smith & Williamson

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HMRC plans to check the business records of thousands of SMEs, imposing penalties on businesses whose records do not conform to their high expectations.

United KingdomTax

Smith & Williamson

Introduction

HMRC plans to check the business records of thousands of SMEs, imposing penalties on businesses whose records do not conform to their high expectations.

HMRC has introduced a programme of business record checks (BRCs) that will review both the adequacy and accuracy of business records within the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. SMEs are the self-employed, one person or partnership businesses, and limited companies with an annual turnover below £30 million who employ less than 250 people.

A pilot programme of business records checks began in April 2011 and in the period to 4 January 2012, over 2,400 business records checks had been carried out. These found that 39 per cent of businesses had some issue with their record-keeping.

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