Holiday businesses in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, the Lake District and Blackpool area beware: the taxman has set up a further task force to seek out and bring to account business owners who are not declaring the correct information on their tax returns.
The taskforces are trained to focus on particular business sectors and may have some flexibility regarding the level of penalties they levy – this is likely to depend on how co-operative the defaulting tax payer is during their investigation.
It would be sensible for holiday businesses to get their house in order.
HMRC will be interested in a range of compliance activity and taxes. For example:
- Payroll and PAYE compliance – particularly adherence to the new Real Time Reporting system. For businesses affected they will no doubt be asking questions about tips and gratuities and how these are treated for tax purposes.
- VAT
- Record keeping – this will include evidence of income and how this reconciles with booking diaries and systems. Do the numbers add up?
If your business operates in one of the targeted areas you would be well advised to review your systems, be prepared. Don’t wait until the brown envelope drops through your letter box.