Firms must have strict procedures for expenses

Revenue prefers all payments to go through PAYE

Almost all businesses use their own rules of thumb when it comes to deciding the level of stock needed, price margins, staff numbers or hours required for a job. They aren’t usually written down anywhere but, instead, they are the result of knowledge gained from past experiences, sometimes painful ones.

When it comes to collecting taxes, however, rules of thumb aren’t usually acceptable. Revenue does have powers of what is called “care and management”, which gives them some degree of latitude as to how taxes can be administered, but it doesn’t follow that they can make up the rules as they go along.