HMRC Update
HMRC’s first ever sector focused disclosure facility has now been launched and has been aimed directly at the medical profession. For any practitioner with Medical Professional clients – doctors and dentists - some understanding of the facility and due diligence on client affairs is critical.
Under what is called the ‘Tax Health Plan’, or THP, medical practitioners are now able to come forward and declare any past tax errors or irregularities from the innocuous to the serious and everything in between. Any such disclosures are then subject to a guaranteed penalty of 10%, as opposed to the maximum of 100% which could be imposed if they were to be investigated by HMRC.
The time on offer for this facility though is very tight
Medical Professionals who want to use the THP must notify HMRC of their intention to disclose by 31 March 2010, making a full disclosure and payments of any tax, interest and penalties by 30 June 2010.
HMRC has gone on record as saying that this facility arises as it has obtained information from numerous sources, such as private health providers, insurance companies, etc, which makes it believe a ‘significant minority’ of Medical Professional’s tax returns may be wrong.
It also says that Medical Professionals who should take the opportunity to take advantage of this facility, but who fail to do so, will be subjected to later investigation by HMRC’s investigating Inspectors and, at the minimum, will face very much higher financial penalties for any tax failures.
The initiative is portrayed as offering a relatively painless way for Medical Professionals to bring their tax affairs up to date rather than facing a later intrusive tax investigation.
HMRC is moving away from its traditional approach of investigating returns, putting more emphasis on the need for taxpayers to be responsible for their own affairs. Those who deliberately fail to take advantage of these ‘amnesties’ must prepare themselves for tough penalties from HMRC if irregularities come to light at a later stage
.(information from Boyd Coughlan accountants - www.boydcoughlanaccountants.co.uk)
