Are you a dog breeder? Have you received a request for information from HMRC? If so, then you should be aware of the latest targeted campaign from HMRC.

HMRC is contacting dog breeders in receipt of income from the sale of dogs and challenging whether such income should have been declared to HMRC. This campaign will target individuals who HMRC believes have received taxable income but not declared this.

HMRC receives intelligence from third parties, such as pet insurers, to identify dog breeders that it suspects are trading. If HMRC believe income from dog breeding should have been notified and declared to HMRC and has not, then significant potential penalties could be charged by HMRC. In extreme cases, criminal proceedings could be commenced.

How can we help?

Our Tax Investigations & Dispute Resolutions team can review your position, make representations on your behalf to HMRC and ultimately minimise your exposure to potential unnecessary tax, interest and penalties.

If our review shows that the dog breeding activities are nothing more than a side-line or hobby conducted around your main employment or self-employment duties we can robustly defend this position with HMRC and ensure that the enquiry is brought to a swift conclusion.

For example, we recently successfully represented a client in this position where with only one letter to HMRC we managed to get the enquiry closed.