Have you received a VAT or Duty penalty? OMNIS has a specialist VAT team which can talk you through your options. Why not give us a call?
HMRC’s Penalty Regime
In 2009 HMRC introduced a new comprehensive cross tax penalty regime.
Prior to that date tax penalties had been administered separately – a legacy from the era before the 2 heavyweight departments of HM Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue joined forces as HMRC.
The new penalty regime consists of of two branches:-
- Inaccuracy Penalties; &
- Wrongdoing Penalties
As far as VAT is a concerned, an inaccuracy penalty deals with businesses that are already registered for VAT.
The level of the VAT penalty is driven largely by the behaviour which caused the error. As such a careless error will not be punished as severely as a deliberate error.
The wrongdoing penalty regime deals with businesses that have failed to notify their liability to register for VAT.
Careless errors attract maximum penalty of 30% of VAT liability figure, deliberate errors 70% and deliberate and concealed errors an eye-watering 100% of the error figure.
Penalties may be reduced or cancelled on appeal and HMRC will also reduce VAT penalties where taxpayers have co-operated in establishing the VAT due figure.
We have a solid track record of mitigating VAT penalties. You might think it a lost cause but in our experience there is always something that can be done.
Why not give us a call?