The majority of people in the UK are aware that different kinds of solicitors specialise in different areas. One of the most commonly sought-after solicitors is a family-based solicitor who deals with common concerns surrounding things like cohabitation agreements, divorces and child access.
There is also a branch of solicitors who tend to specialise in business and fraud and can also help if a business, company or sole trader has been accused of taking part in tax fraud or money laundering. This group of solicitors can be worth their weight in gold, and if you need somebody to sort through an HMRC investigation, you will want to hire a fraud solicitor.
But you may be wondering what exactly it is that they can do differently from a general solicitor? So, read on to find out.
Sort out paperwork
Firstly, if you have been accused of fraud, you do not want to be going through the associated paperwork by yourself, especially if it is an investigation by an entity like HMRC. A solicitor who has specialised in fraud can go through the paperwork for you and accurately assess whether there will be an issue coming up as well as whether your case will go to court or whether you will be fined. This is probably what the majority of people who are undertaking this kind of assessment or investigation want to know.
Liaise
In a similar vein, it is worth noting that the majority of HMRC issues come from poorly or incorrectly filed tax returns. So, a solicitor in this area can liaise with representatives from HMRC on your behalf and assure them that it was not based on you wishing to commit tax evasion but rather a simple mistake. This is why this branch of solicitors is a must-have if you run a business!
Get documents together
Suppose you need to undertake an extensive HMRC investigation and don’t know where to begin with your documents, a solicitor in this area will be able to identify which documents you need to provide. They can even get access to documents that you may have been unaware of. They can also provide legal advice if the required documents are unavailable, which can occur if the HMRC investigation is going back 20 years.
Build a defence
Most importantly, a solicitor in this area can build a defence for you. As mentioned earlier, this may be a case of simply stating that it was negligence or misinformation rather than an attempt to commit tax fraud. If you have been accused of money laundering, they can once again put together a case in your defence and go to court to present it to have the charges against you and your company dropped.
Prevent future incidents
In the case of an HMRC investigation, once it is all over, a solicitor in this area can ensure that it does not happen again by providing you with tips and guidance on how to correctly fill out a tax return or even offering their services to keep you and your company on the good side of HMRC.
