Facing an HMRC tax investigation? Specialist accountants on your side.

Most enquiries start with a computer flagging a mismatch. HMRC cross-checks your return against reports from banks, online platforms and Companies House, and an enquiry can follow a mismatch, risk profiling of your industry, a tip-off, random selection, or an unusual jump in your figures from one year to the next. HMRC does not have to tell you why. The first letter looks intimidating, but it is usually a standard opening notice, and what you send back in the first 30 days sets the tone for the whole enquiry.

COP8 covers cases where HMRC suspects significant tax loss but not deliberate fraud. COP9 is the Contractual Disclosure Facility, HMRC suspects deliberate fraud and is offering you immunity from criminal prosecution in exchange for a full, accurate disclosure within 60 days. COP9 is far more serious and you must never respond to one without specialist representation. We've handled both end-to-end.

IR35 is the rule that decides whether a contractor is genuinely self-employed or really a hidden employee for tax. We defend a status challenge on the three things that decide it: whether you have to do the work yourself, how much control the client has over how you work, and whether there is an ongoing obligation to offer and accept work. We back this with your real working practices, your contracts and the end client's evidence. We also review any CEST result (HMRC's online Check Employment Status for Tax tool), though it is rarely decisive on its own. The earlier we get involved, ideally before HMRC issues a decision, the stronger your position.

Yes. Penalties scale by behaviour: 0-30% for careless errors, 20-70% for deliberate, and 30-100% for deliberate and concealed. Within each band, full unprompted disclosure and cooperation can cut the penalty to the minimum. Reasonable excuse arguments can remove penalties entirely in some cases. Our job is to position your facts in the band and percentage that costs you least.

For many clients, yes. Fee protection is a small subscription that covers our professional fees if HMRC opens an enquiry, so you are not paying to defend yourself on top of any tax that turns out to be due. Without it, defending even a straightforward enquiry can run into thousands of pounds in fees, because the work takes time whatever the outcome. The cover does not change the tax you owe, but it takes the cost of fighting your corner off the table. Most clients add it once they understand how it works.

It depends on your behaviour. HMRC can normally go back 4 years, rising to 6 years where a mistake was careless, and up to 20 years where income was deliberately hidden or involves offshore matters. For Self Assessment, HMRC usually has 12 months from the date you filed to open an enquiry, but a discovery assessment can reach back further.

They are largely the same thing. "Compliance check" is HMRC's own term for an enquiry into your tax affairs. "Audit" is the American word people often use, but in the UK there is no separate process called a tax audit. Whatever it is called, the way we defend it is the same.

A simple aspect enquiry into one figure can be resolved in a few months. A full enquiry, or a serious fraud investigation under COP8 or COP9, can run for a year or more. The sooner you get specialist representation and the better organised your records, the faster it usually ends.

The vast majority of investigations are civil and are settled by paying the tax, interest and a penalty. Criminal prosecution is reserved for the most serious deliberate fraud. Where there is a risk, HMRC may offer the Contractual Disclosure Facility under COP9, which protects you from prosecution in exchange for a full disclosure. We will tell you clearly where you stand.

You do not have to accept HMRC's conclusion. You can request an independent internal review, use Alternative Dispute Resolution to reach a settlement, or appeal to the First-tier Tax Tribunal. We will advise which route gives you the best outcome.

No. Once you appoint us as your agent, HMRC deals with us, not you. We handle the letters, the calls and any meeting. You do not have to attend an interview alone, and in a serious case you should not. Having a representative speak for you keeps the case calm and stops a nervous, off-the-cuff answer turning into a bigger problem.

Tax avoidance means arranging your affairs within the law to pay less tax. It is legal, though HMRC challenges aggressive schemes. Tax evasion means hiding income, inflating expenses or failing to declare something you should, which is illegal and can be treated as fraud. The line matters, because evasion carries far higher penalties and, in the worst cases, criminal prosecution. We will tell you honestly which side of it your case sits on.

Not always. HMRC can demand records that are reasonably required to check your tax, usually through a Schedule 36 information notice with a deadline. But it is not entitled to everything. Some requests can be narrowed, challenged or refused. We review every notice, hand over what the law requires, push back on what it does not, and negotiate more time where the deadline is too tight.