Few businesses utilising HMRC’s new review system

News Article - 03 March 2011
Category: Business

Just a handful of businesses are using the HMRC's new Independent Business Review system aimed at companies with a turnover of more than £1 million.

The taxman revealed it expected the service to be used by several hundred businesses requesting that their tax be deferred under the Time to Pay scheme. Nevertheless, the real number appears to be greatly reduced with a senior level insolvency practitioner revealing there had been just four Independent Business Reviews in the last ten months.

An HMRC spokesman said: "HMRC will not always require an IBR in £1m+ cases, this is because each Time to Pay request is considered on its own merits and the specific facts in the individual case.

"HMRC has only required an IBR in a handful of cases since the initial announcement in the last pre-budget report that HMRC would consider seeking such a review in those cases where additional Time to Pay was being sought and the tax involved exceeded £1 million."

There remains mistrust and confusion in the HMRC tax system, with new evidence suggesting that Britons are unnecessarily handing over £13.5 billion a year to HMRC without realising. Many UK businesses and workers are far from tax efficient. A recent study found that women are more susceptible to "tax apathy" with 91 per cent of those surveyed admitting to not taking any steps to reduce their tax liability.

Meanwhile almost half of respondents believed that they were already taking sufficient steps to ensure they are as tax efficient as possible, but the above figures suggest otherwise. Experts are urging people to improve tax planning, with many confused that consumers are happy to shop around and save money on goods and utilities whilst remaining somewhat blasé about tax efficiency.

In order for businesses to take charge of tax returns a reporting system is required to efficiently integrate budgeting, cash flow forecasting, VAT returns and more. Access supplies financials and accounting software to improve the efficiency of audit trails using powerful reporting tools to drive the analysis and presentation of data.

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Article keywords: HMRC, Independent Business Review system, tax deferment, Time to Pay scheme, IBR, tax system, tax planning, financial and accounting software

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