HMRC Support
HMRC Support & Tax Investigations
A brown envelope from HMRC is frightening, and the instinct is to put it in a drawer. Don't. We deal with HMRC on your behalf, and almost every situation is far more recoverable than it feels on the day the letter arrives.
£100
Instant late filing penalty
Then £10 a day after 3 months
20 yrs
How far HMRC can go back
Where behaviour was deliberate
0%
Possible penalty
On an unprompted disclosure
30 days
Typical response window
Do not let it lapse
The Problem
The problem: waiting always makes it worse
HMRC now receives data directly from digital platforms. Uber, Bolt, Deliveroo and the rest report what they have paid you. That means the old assumption that driving income is invisible has not been true for some time, and a mismatch between their data and your return is exactly what triggers a letter.
The letters themselves are written in language designed to make you nervous, and they carry deadlines. Ignoring one does not make it go away — it escalates into determinations, estimated assessments and penalties that grow the longer nothing happens.
The single biggest factor in how these end is whether you came forward or were found. Voluntary disclosure attracts substantially lower penalties than a prompted one. That is not a sales line, it is written into how HMRC calculates the penalty.
What we do for you
- We read the letter and tell you straight what it means
- Registered as your agent so HMRC deals with us, not you
- All correspondence, phone calls and deadlines handled
- Outstanding returns prepared and brought up to date
- Voluntary disclosures made properly, to minimise the penalty
- Penalty appeals and reasonable excuse arguments
- Time to Pay arrangements negotiated where you cannot pay in one go
The letters drivers actually get
Most are not investigations. Knowing which one you are holding changes how worried you should be.
- A nudge letter — HMRC thinks your figures do not match platform data and invites you to check. Low stakes if you respond properly, serious if you ignore it
- A compliance check under Schedule 36 — a formal review of a specific part of your return, usually expenses or turnover
- A determination — HMRC has estimated your tax because you did not file. Their estimate is usually far higher than reality, and it becomes legally due if you leave it
- A failure to notify penalty — for not registering as self-employed on time
- A full enquiry — rare for drivers, and generally follows one of the above going unanswered
What we do about it
First we read the letter properly and tell you plainly what it is and what it is not. A lot of the fear comes from not knowing which of the above you are dealing with.
Then we become your agent with HMRC, so correspondence and phone calls come to us rather than you. We work out what the correct position actually is, put together the disclosure or the response, and negotiate the penalty position on the basis of your circumstances.
Where returns are missing we prepare them properly rather than guessing, because a rushed catch-up return that is wrong just extends the problem.
Penalties are negotiable more often than people think
HMRC penalties are calculated from your behaviour, not just the tax at stake. Careless is treated very differently from deliberate, and an unprompted disclosure is treated very differently from one made only after HMRC came knocking.
There is also reasonable excuse, which genuinely does succeed — serious illness, bereavement, a failure of HMRC's own systems. It has to be argued properly rather than simply asserted, which is a large part of what we do.
Behind on your returns and nobody has written yet
This is the best possible moment to fix it, and it is worth acting now rather than waiting to see whether anything happens.
We bring the outstanding years up to date, disclose them voluntarily, and deal with the penalty position. Drivers regularly come to us four or five years behind and end up owing far less than they had braced for — partly because the years they never filed usually contained expenses they never claimed.
Questions
HMRC Support questions drivers ask
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