Inland Revenue Enquiries

Simon Sweetman has a long background in Inland Revenue Enquiry work on both sides of the fence. Apart from experience both as an Inspector and as the partner responsible for enquiry work at Scrutton Bland, he was a member of the working party set up by the Inland Revenue which produced the proposals for "faster working" of Enquiries, and also of the group working on changes to the system following the Inland Revenue/CIoT report in 2000. He has written on the subject of enquiries for Taxation.

Dealing with Enquiry cases properly requires an understanding of the law, knowledge of Inland Revenue practice, and experience in Enquiry and negotiation work. You need to know when to accept what an Inspector says and when to disagree : you need to understand how the Inland Revenue selects cases for enquiry and their ?business economics? approach to this work. You need to know how to make interviews with the Inspector work for your client rather than against him. Above all you need to be experienced in this kind of negotiation, which involves not only dealing with the Inspector but also being prepared to judge when to go to the Commissioners on appeal or for a closure notice.

Inland Revenue Inspectors do not know the law as well as they should and in very many cases the Inland Revenue gets more tax than it should because the taxpayer?s representatives, who cannot always be expected to have this specialised knowledge and experience, do not know the law or the best tactics either.

Simon Sweetman has experience in all kinds of Inland Revenue Enquiry work from the smallest cases in the district to substantial cases worked by Special Compliance Office. He has successfully taken appeals to the Commissioners and has also taken successful applications for closure. In particular, though, he has experience of the way in which local districts handle cases : an experience which larger firms of specialist advisers often lack.

If you need advice at any stage of an enquiry, from the opening letter to the closing interview, and from brief advice over the telephone to representation at a meeting with the Inspector or before the Commissoners.

This is going to be particularly important in Suffolk and North Essex as the Inland Revenue centralises the management of all enquiry work in Ipswich under the new area management scheme (this bit perhaps should go in the covering letter)