TCRM3500 - The Business Risk Review (BRR): Monitoring business developments and performance

There are many reasons why a customer’s tax risk profile can change. Therefore, whether a customer is currently classified as Low Risk or not, we will want to engage with them to keep up-to-date with business developments so that our overall view of risk for that customer and their sector remains current. Maintaining our understanding of the customer will also help to ensure that work we do on rulings and clearances, as well as Risk Assessment, is based on an up to date awareness of the customer’s commercial context. It will also ensure that when the next Business Risk Review is due it can be completed with the minimum of effort, particularly in the case of Low Risk customers.

Our monitoring includes

• maintaining a knowledge of the tax receipts position
• continuing to monitor significant customer events via press releases, websites and examination of ‘glossies’;
• gathering data from internal and external sources to examine trends and themes across sectors;
• reviewing formal and informal information shared or submitted to HMRC to keep our understanding of the business current, learning from customer-initiated interactions such as tax enquiries or audit assurance requests;
• referring new and significant tax issues to Deputy Directors and Tax and Audit Specialists for advice.

Systematic monitoring enables us to examine apparently anomalous data and consider whether there are potential risks to tax compliance. Inconsistencies will be reviewed and resolved internally, if possible, before being discussed with the customer.

Our knowledge of the customer should be recorded on the Customer Overview (CO) Document (Excel 19KB).