One of the symptoms of a tax investigation is the feeling that no matter what you do or say, you feel like you are drowning under the tax investigation. You need to treat the cause, not the symptom. You may need help to understand the cause but who do you turn to?
Receiving the letter from HMRC can instantly make you feel guilty. But you have not done anything wrong. Leastways there is nothing that springs to mind. Some will feel guilty even mentioning the letter to their accountant or solicitor. “What will they think of me?” is often buzzing around. Especially when its quiet. At night. Just as you are about to go to sleep. And then its back first thing in the morning.
Why am I being challenged?
Sorry but there is no obvious answer I can give you, And if you ask HMRC they won’t tell you either.
The starting point is to accept that like it or not, you are now going through HMRC’s process. Something has been flagged or perhaps something has been sent to HMRC you are not aware of. The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) will automatically send data to HMRC every year on anyone with an overseas asset connected to a UK postal address.
Maybe you participated in a tax avoidance scheme.
Overseas or offshore anything can be a nightmare to resolve
This will provoke a thought process within HMRC. It can be that HMRC didn’t know about say the overseas property. HMRC will invariably assume that it is rented out and yet they see no taxable income being declared by you. There may be a local bank account set up to pay the utility bills – where does the money come from to pay those bills?
Questions, questions, questions. And that may be why you are under investigation.
If you want help, guidance or simply to understand what it might be that HMRC thinks you are guilty of, please do get in touch.