HMRC announces plans to fine up to 50,000 SME’s for record keeping failures

Thousands of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK could find themselves targets of the HM Revenue and Customs in the second half of this year.

The HMRC’s  “Business Records Check” campaign announced over the Christmas period, will target 40 per cent of the UK’s 4.9 million businesses which the HMRC said are likely to have unpaid tax.

HMRC has said it will use its existing powers to tackle 50,000 of the worst cases each year from the second half of 2011. Penalties could be anything up to £3000 “for significant record keeping failures”.  

The Revenue have said there are “customer benefits” from better record keeping including “improved chances of business success”, “improved financial management” and a “reduced likihood of a subsequent compliance intervention, such as a full enquiry into their returns”. 

For many small businesses already struggling against the recession the announcement is likely to add more stress and administrative costs that they feel are unnecessary. 

If you feel your firm could suffer as a result of the HMRC fines and would like some independent advice please contact Moorfields Corporate Recovery LLP on 0207 186 1144. 

Moorfields Corporate Recovery LLP is one of the UK's leading independent firms of restructuring and insolvency specialists.

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