In the most serious cases of tax evasion, HMRC can assess up to 20 years of a landlord's tax affairs and can also instigate a criminal investigation.
What happens if I don't declare rental income? If HMRC suspects a landlord has been deliberately avoiding tax, it can reclaim 20 years' worth of tax payments. They can also impose fines up to the total value of any unpaid tax, as well as the underpaid tax.
During a full enquiry, HMRC concerns itself with cases where it believes there is a significant risk of error in the tax return. In this type of enquiry, a review of all records will be undertaken. This can include personal financial records of Directors/Business owners as well as business records.
How long the tax investigation process takes will depend largely on how much information HMRC wants to look at. Smaller tax investigations usually take between three and six months, while a full-scale investigation can sometimes take up to 16 months to complete.
What happens if you don't report rental income? If you don't report rental income to the IRS, you'll be committing tax fraud. Unfortunately, there is no way to sugarcoat this. If you are hiding income from the IRS, including rental income, you'll be committing tax fraud.
IRS agents likely are using social media to find tax cheats. (Again, there is little information from the agency about this activity.) Postings on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other sites can reveal lifestyles that don't fit with the amount of income reported on tax returns or with deductions claimed.
Under section 959Z(3) TCA, a Revenue officer can carry out enquiries into a return at any point up to the end of the fourth year after the return was filed. Where a taxpayer submits an amended return, this four-year period runs from the end of the year in which the amended return is filed.
On average, tax audits can be expected every five years or so, while only a few per cent of income tax and corporation tax returns are investigated each year. But the frequency of tax audits and the likelihood of in-depth tax investigations increases if HMRC suspects that tax is being underpaid.
HMRC will investigate further back the more serious they think a case could be. If they suspect deliberate tax evasion, they can investigate as far back as 20 years. More commonly, investigations into careless tax returns can go back 6 years and investigations into innocent errors can go back up to 4 years.
HMRC carries out compliance checks on a proportion of returns to check their accuracy. Some checks will be completely random, while others will be made on businesses operating in 'at risk' sectors or where prior risk assessments have been conducted.
HMRC maintains a close watch on cash businesses and conducts undercover checks from tip-offs, usually from former staff.
Information can come from a variety of sources: on-line search, door to door enquiries, reports from members of the public or from relatives, information from other government departments, investigations into other businesses, among others. HMRC uses very sophisticated software called Connect.
HM Revenue and Customs does prosecute people for failing to declare their income, but there are relatively few prosecutions every year. You are unlikely to be prosecuted if you voluntarily disclose your failure to HM Revenue and Customs before they have any suspicion of wrongdoing.
If you are not self-employed but have untaxed income and need to complete a tax return – for example you have rental income, or untaxed savings income above the Savings Allowance – you should tell HMRC. You can do this by phone HMRC on 0300 200 3300 or register with HMRC on-line.
Any owner or letting agent who rents a property online will have their details sent to HMRC in an annual report by provider running the service they use.
For each year that passes, the tax bill is mounting. In 2019, the government started to invest heavily in a specialist task force to hunt for landlords who had not been declaring rental income. Penalties for undisclosed income can be hefty, ranging from 15% up to 100% of the rental income in some cases.
Currently, the answer to the question is a qualified 'yes'. If HMRC is investigating a taxpayer, it has the power to issue a 'third party notice' to request information from banks and other financial institutions. It can also issue these notices to a taxpayer's lawyers, accountants and estate agents.
The amount of a failure to notify penalty is calculated on the basis of a percentage of potential lost revenue – this means the amount of tax unpaid by the relevant payment deadline as a result of the failure to notify. HMRC can reduce the penalty if you tell them about the failure to notify and are cooperative.
If your house is registered in the company's name, HMRC can force the company into a compulsory liquidation, so that the property's value can be realised and shared among the company's creditors, to repay. Likewise, if the house is registered this way, it can be taken and sold, at any point, if you live in it or not.
What does it mean when HMRC are doing security checks? If you submit a self-assessment tax return which results in a repayment of tax, HMRC undertakes a number of routine security checks to ensure that the claim is genuine. This means that HMRC may write to you and ask that you confirm your identity.
You do not need to send in proof of expenses when you submit your tax return. But you should keep proof and records so you can show them to HM Revenue and Customs ( HMRC ) if asked. You must make sure your records are accurate.
The '4 Year Rule' allows you to make a formal application for a certificate to determine whether your unauthorised use or development can become lawful through the passage of time — rather than compliance with space standards — and can continue without the need for planning permission.
When completing tax returns for you and/or your company there will always be required filing dates with Revenue. These deadlines can usually be extended if filed online. However, if you repeatedly file returns late you will be flagged by Revenues REAP system and this increases the chances of a Revenue audit or inquiry.
III.
Often a tax fraud investigation takes twelve to twenty-four months to complete, with 1,000 to 2,000 staff hours being devoted to the case.