[Tosh]

I said before the Tax man is not to be trusted; they make mistakes and can throw accusation at you then demand money from you.

You are more vulnerable if you are on your own; if you owe money to the tax man pay, if you don’t and he demands you pay, don’t pay.

The very least you can do is have an accountant and be a member of the FSB or get similar support in the event something like this should happen to you.

Just a bit of additional information, which may or may not be relevant:

Ian_Giles (moderator here) once had a tax investigation because HE HAD an accountant.

The accountant was found to be 'dodgy' by the tax investigators, so all of his clients; including Ian; were tax investigated.

[john tomkins]

When I had a car as well it was 100% PLUS a little for the car as I used it for quoting certain jobs where turning up in a work van may not have given a good impression.

But surely you would have lost out because you would then have had to insure your car for business use not just social, domestic and pleasure. Or doesn't it work like that

[AuRavelling79]

When I had a car as well it was 100% PLUS a little for the car as I used it for quoting certain jobs where turning up in a work van may not have given a good impression.

But surely you would have lost out because you would then have had to insure your car for business use not just social, domestic and pleasure. Or doesn't it work like that

If you insure with Tesco you get business use included. I know cuz my daughter is a mobile hairdresser and not only was Tesco good value it included business use too.

[Tosh]

I said before the Tax man is not to be trusted; they make mistakes and can throw accusation at you then demand money from you.

You are more vulnerable if you are on your own; if you owe money to the tax man pay, if you don’t and he demands you pay, don’t pay.

The very least you can do is have an accountant and be a member of the FSB or get similar support in the event something like this should happen to you.

Just a bit of additional information, which may or may not be relevant:

Ian_Giles (moderator here) once had a tax investigation because HE HAD an accountant.

The accountant was found to be 'dodgy' by the tax investigators, so all of his clients; including Ian; were tax investigated.

What was the outcome?

I can't remember; Ian told me after we had two-or-three pints of lager! 

But my point was, Ian had done nothing wrong; I think his accountant was fiddling his customer's books for the tax man; yet saying that his customers had £X amount to pay; and pocketing the difference.

I think there's also two types of accountants; the chartered ones and the other ones.  With a chartered accountant; I think that they deal with tax enquiries and they're liable for any anomolies; but with the routine sort, they'd be no different than if you sent your 'books' to me; and I did them for you.

I don't believe an accountant is any sort of 'umbrella' if you get selected for a tax enquiry.

[leapstallbuildings]

When I had a car as well it was 100% PLUS a little for the car as I used it for quoting certain jobs where turning up in a work van may not have given a good impression.

But surely you would have lost out because you would then have had to insure your car for business use not just social, domestic and pleasure. Or doesn't it work like that

Never thought about that really.  Mind you, I suppose it would be difficult to get nicked for no insurance if I'm going to visit someone to socialise and just happen to supply a quotation while I'm there   

[easycleaner]

The point is that I feel I have a decent accountant, he puts in all the 'claims and allowences' but the taxman just seems to pick on people at random and give them a bill and thats that! Prove it or pay it! I have no reason to belive that it is or will happen very soon to someone else on this forum.
Mart.

[leapstallbuildings]

The point is that I feel I have a decent accountant, he puts in all the 'claims and allowences' but the taxman just seems to pick on people at random and give them a bill and thats that! Prove it or pay it! I have no reason to belive that it is or will happen very soon to someone else on this forum.
Mart.

You can prove your annual mileage by producing MOTs or in the case of newer vehicles, a servicing record.  You can also show the areas where you clean by keeping a daily record of individual transactions.  Add on collecting journeys (if you do that) and special trips to quote for new work plus any visits to suppliers.  Difficult to calculate retrospectively but you ought to have sufficient paperwork to be able to show that you are generally being truthful even if some of the finer details are missing.

[tonyoliver]

get stung one way get pay back x 10 another

[AuRavelling79]

get stung one way get pay back x 10 another

I must confess that after running my business life honestly and fairly that if I was hit with a bill that I knew was unfair (say I couldn't "prove" the expenses to the taxman's satisfaction) then I would be sorely tempted to make up the lost dosh somehow!

[npwindows]

Dont know if this is of any use.

I used to operate nine vehicles from 1994 to 2004 whilst owning a security company.

I was visited by tax man and told him that all the vehicles were "pool" vehicles and that employees came to office to collect vehicles , no employee had their own vehicle , just a case of take what was there.
He allowed me all expenses for vehicles. He did ask how I got to work, at that time I walked, only lived 5 mins from office.
He wouldn't allow me all of my expenses for McDonalds though 

Not sure if this is still the case.