The Forum of Private Business (FPB) is urging business owners to inform HMRC of all changes to their details, after a small firm was handed a £10,000 fine for changing its name without updating the tax authority, despite the fact that HMRC did not lose out on any tax. Andrew Needham, tax adviser at the FPB, expressed concern that this could indicate a change in HMRC’s long-standing policy of waiving fines of this type imposed on small businesses. He added: “If this is carried through and sets a precedent it could result in huge fines being imposed on small businesses which, in reality, have done very little wrong.”
Read more about the FPB’s concerns at:
http://www.fpb.org/news/2550/Small_businesses_warned_to_keep_taxman_fully_
informed_after_firm_threatened_with__10k_VAT_fine_following_name_change.ht
