It is absolutely essential, now more so than ever, that individuals and companies with complex tax affairs file accurate annual tax returns with HMRC. The cost of getting it wrong has never been higher.

 

Many of our clients have complicated tax-reporting needs. Some of them have significant and diverse investment assets both in the UK and overseas, sometimes held through foreign investment structures which are not set up for UK tax reporting. Other clients have complex remuneration reporting involving options, vesting share arrangements and restricted stock units where there might be international considerations. Many of our clients are entrepreneurs with businesses which also bring intricate tax filing challenges.

 

Just as tax reporting has become more demanding, there has been a much closer concentration of effort by HMRC on the tax affairs of wealthy UK tax payers and their companies. HMRC’s investigative capabilities have been greatly enhanced by the volume of information provided to them by both institutions in the UK and by other countries under automatic exchange of information agreements. At the same time, the tax law has been changed to give HMRC a greater length of time to investigate foreign aspects of a taxpayer’s affairs and impose significantly greater penalties for reporting failures.

 

Thoroughness and a rigorous approach are therefore paramount in the preparation of our clients’ tax returns. We generally operate a ‘triple-lock’ approach whereby the tax return is prepared by a professionally qualified junior, reviewed carefully by a manager and is then subjected to a final high level review by the partner. In that way, we seek to reduce the risk of inaccuracies and omissions.