Knock Knock, Who’s there?

VAT officers can visit your business to inspect your VAT records at any time. They would normally give you 7 days’ notice but they can also visit without an appointment and may telephone you about your VAT. Have they contacted you recently?

How often checks happen depends on how big your business is and whether you have submitted late or incorrect VAT returns before.

Visits and inspections can be stressful, time consuming and costly, not to mention the possible additional tax due and penalty charges.

There are number of different types of penalty charges, such as;

• Errors and corrections

• Late filing

• Errors on returns and paperwork

• ‘Reasonable care’ penalty – inaccurate record keeping

• Failure to notify

VAT rules are changing on a regular basis and keeping up to date with the new legislation can be stressful. Here at FBX we use Xero which enables us to attach invoice copies to every record. We also store them in Dropbox, this makes it easy to find invoice copies if they’re ever asked for. We do not reclaim VAT if we do not have a VAT invoice to support the claim – this puts you in a good position before an inspection even starts.  We keep all the calculation records used to form your VAT return and therefore we are ready at a moment’s notice should an inspection or visit take place. Being cloud-based and sticking to our own rules, we can be ready to assist with even the surprise visits that happen.

If you would like to discuss your specific VAT needs and take away the stress and time-consuming element, please get in touch with us and we will be happy to help.