Increased Certainty for Corporate Tax Payers 
Added : 4th July 2008
"There is now an incentive to submit tax return early."
Philip Rogers, Tax Partner at Regional Business Advisers Cooper Parry says that companies with accounting periods ending after 31 March 2008 have an opportunity to increase the certainty in their tax affairs.
In the past HMRC have effectively had two years from the end of the accounting period to enquire into a company’s tax return provided it was submitted on time.
This has changed for the majority of individual companies and small groups.
For all accounting periods ended after 31 March 2008 the enquiry window is reduced to 12 months from the date the return is submitted to HMRC. For example a company with a year end of 30 April 2008 could by submitting its tax return by 31 July 2008 reduce the enquiry window to 31 July 2009 from 30 April 2010 receiving certainty in their affairs 9 months earlier.
Philip said, "This is a welcome change that benefits companies who have good accounting systems and are able to produce their accounts and tax returns quickly. Previously there has been no incentive to submit tax returns early whereas now we expect to see a push from clients to submit earlier and benefit from the earlier closure of the enquiry window."
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