Hikes in tax investigations raise insurance claims by 25%
Abbey Protection says tax investigations by HMRC against businesses have risen 25% in the past year, with a leap since rules changed on 1 April, Accountancy Age reports.
On 1 April 2009 HMRC was allowed more scope to request and examine company records.
From January to September 2008 Abbey Protection received 1,416 claims compared with 1,347 claims in the same period in 2009, but this includes a slump in requests before the new rules.
Claims up one quarter
The numbers of claims received in September 2009 were 25% higher than in September 2008 as Abbey received 154 compared to 128 year-on-year.
"Unsurprisingly, we saw a reduction in the number of insurance claims being made by accountants in the first quarter of 2009 as presumably HMRC was waiting for the new powers to come into force before launching enquiries,” said David Marples, consultancy manager at Abbey Tax Protection.
