Tax Investigation Specialists Navigation

• Local Tax District, the SCI & CIF offices
• Why Cameron Baum
• Why investigations start
• Voluntary Disclosures
• Are you at risk of a Prosecution
• Understanding the SCI Inland Revenue opening Letter
• Inland Revenue: Sources of Information
• Tax Investigation FAQ
• Insurance to cover tax investigation fees

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Understanding the Inland Revenue Opening Letter

Here is a sample of a letter you may receive

At the top right hand corner you see the words Serious Civil Investigation Office or Civil Investigation of Fraud Offices - take a deep breath, it's serious, and then call us on the number below.

Tel: 020 7724 8824

Code of Practice 8 cases relate to tax avoidance. These may be complicated international or trust issues which the Inland Revenue considers have not been correctly dealt with in returns submitted.

If the letter refers to Code of Practice 9 then the Inland Revenue suspect serious fraud and their investigations are dealt with via the Hansard Procedure (now known as COP9 (2005)).

This procedure is extremely formal and starts with a long interview which the tax payer. However if you co-operate fully there is still no risk of prosecution.

The investigation progresses with the submission of a formal report and finally, providing an undertaking that a full disclosure has been supplied.