Introduction
Whilst the advice in this guide is not intended to be prescriptive, it is the central theme of the guide that a proper and well thought out meeting with HMRC is crucial to the successful outcome of any case. A well handled meeting will often result in a speedy and less costly resolution of an investigation (both in terms of additional duties to be paid and professional costs), whereas a poorly handled meeting may extend the duration of an enquiry at some cost.
Professional advisers' attitudes to attending meetings (with or without their client) can be very different. In our experience the majority of practitioners will take their client to a meeting (without question) when it is requested by an Inspector. Conversely, there are a small number of accountants who refuse to take any of their clients to meetings with HMRC.
We believe that meetings between the parties (i.e. accountant, client and HMRC) may, if handled correctly, be extremely productive and save time in the long run. To avoid a meeting will generally result in protracted correspondence with HMRC which serves no real purpose other than to increase costs.
In the very worst case, the writer [in a previous existence with a big four firm] took over a case where correspondence had departed from one or two page initial exchanges to correspondence running into 26 pages including schedules (if the writer's memory serves him well); HMRCnever failing to outdo the professional firm with an even longer letter than the one previously received. The writer's approach was to telephone the Inspector concerned, advise him that the case had now been taken over and request a meeting. At the meeting most of the issues were resolved within the first couple of hours.
Legal Requirement
There is no legal requirement for a client to attend a meeting with HMRC. He cannot therefore be compelled to attend such a meeting, if he does not wish to do so. The Codes of Practice published by HMRC make this clear. HMRC will on occasion argue that an individual's failure to attend a meeting amounts to a lack of cooperation, which the Inspector tries to reflect by restricting the available mitigations in the calculation of penalties (if applicable). Such suggestions by an Inspector should be resisted except in the most extreme cases where the refusal is perhaps part of a broader lack of cooperation which has led to severe delays. We also believe there is an implied right of silence in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights in cases where HMRC is seeking a tax geared penalty.