Corporate Tax: When HMRC Come Calling With A Warrant

What this article does is provide a short practical guide to searches of premises under warrant by HMRC, and how to minimise the chance of that happening to you. It's not a substitute for legal advice, so if HMRC turn up with a warrant, or if you fear they might, call us before they call on you.

You are first to arrive at your company HQ one morning. As you open the door, eight men and women in stab-proof vests get out of an unmarked van and approach you. One of them hands you a document. It's a warrant to search the company premises.

What should you do?

Don't panic. The first thing is to check the warrant. It should state clearly which regulatory authority is visiting; what they are looking for; how many people are allowed to look for it; for how long; and on how many occasions. You should also be able to work out whether or not it is your company that is the focus of the regulatory authority's investigation (bad) or whether spotlight is trained on another company and they are just seeking documents that relate to that other company (likely to be much less unpleasant).

The next thing to do is to check in with one of the senior management team of your company. If it is your company that is under investigation there's a sporting chance the senor management have had a visit from the same authority themselves and are in custody. So they may not be contactable even on their emergency numbers.

Then call a lawyer. Fieldfisher has a single 24-hour emergency number you can call for assistance in the event of a regulatory raid- 0161 981 0989. All you need to tell our operator is who you are, where you are, and which regulatory authority has come to call and you will be connected through to a Partner in the firm with experience in dealing with unexpected visits by that authority.

Dawn Raids by HMRC

On reading it you find the warrant has been made out to HMRC. This is much more likely than it used to be. The Government (and the CPS) have said repeatedly that their target is to raise the number of tax cases prosecuted 'five‐fold' by the end of this tax year. HMRC carries out raids when it suspects a tax fraud has been committed and it believe there is relevant evidence on the premises in question. Given the commitment to prosecute many more people, HMRC's criminal investigations activity ‐ interviews under caution, arrests, and searches of premises under warrant ‐ has been dramatically stepped up.

Where HMRC turn up with a warrant to search your...