HMRC is planning a programme of ‘Business Records Checks’ to check the adequacy and accuracy of business records within the ‘small and medium enterprise’ (SME) sector.

An SME for these purposes is defined as a business with a turnover of less than €50m and less than 250 employees. No new legislation is proposed in this regard; the programme will use existing law regarding both record keeping requirements and penalties for failure to comply with those requirements, with penalties being imposed for significant record keeping failures.

HMRC state that the general Business Records Checks proposition has been discussed in outline with the Compliance Reform Forum (CRF) and with a working-group of CRF representatives. The newly published con-doc takes account of those discussions and thus HMRC is now consulting on how best to implement such a programme. Closing date for comments is 28 February 2011; the full text of the con-doc can be accessed at http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_ConsultationDocuments&propertyType=document&columns=1&id=HMCE_PROD1_030901