HMRC has announced that it will be re-launch­ing its Busi­ness Records Checks (BRC) start­ing in Novem­ber 2012.

HMRC intends to write to those busi­ness­es select­ed for a BRC and fol­low that up with a phone call. In that call HMRC will ask about the busi­ness record-keep­ing. This is intend­ed to last about 10 to 15 min­utes, so you can expect it will be care­ful­ly script­ed and quite in-depth.

Based on the respons­es giv­en, HMRC will then decide (almost on a traf­fic light basis) that:

- The busi­ness records aren’t ade­quate and arrange for a face-to-face vis­it from a Tax Inspec­tor

- Deem that the record-keep­ing needs to be improved, so pass it to their sup­port team to do some ‘edu­ca­tion’ to the busi­ness

- Deem that the busi­ness records are suf­fi­cient­ly well main­tained, there­fore, no vis­it will be need­ed.

Basi­cal­ly, ade­quate records are giv­en the green light, records that could do with some improve­ment are allo­cat­ed an amber light and the inad­e­quate records are award­ed a red light.

If you get a ‘green light’ from HMRC , then you are fine – for the moment. Any­thing else leaves you open to a major enquiry or inves­ti­ga­tion from HMRC, and should be avoid­ed at all costs.

Any­thing oth­er than green may also result in a finan­cial penal­ty being levied by HMRC.

Please speak to one of our team if you are in any way con­cerned about your stan­dard of record-keep­ing. We can advise you on this and do a health-check on the ade­qua­cy of your busi­ness records and advise you about any changes you may wish to con­sid­er. We will be hap­py to help improve your busi­ness record-keep­ing sys­tems or we can offer to main­tain your records for you to the stan­dards required.