What is a compliance review
A compliance review is an examination of your individual or company's tax records by Revenue Jersey.
The aim is to make sure you:
- pay the right amount of tax at the right time
- get the right allowances and tax reliefs
If you make an inaccurate declaration you may have to pay interest or a penalty.
The level of penalty depends on:
- whether you told us about the inaccuracy
- whether your inaccuracy was careless or deliberate
- how much you cooperate with us
We may carry out a tax investigation if we believe that:
- serious tax evasion or aggressive tax avoidance may have occurred
- an offence may have been committed
Tax investigations
Tax compliance penalties for companies and other entities factsheet
Tax compliance penalties for individuals factsheet
Settlement for incorrect tax returns received up to 31 December 2019
The review process
During a compliance review, we'll ask for information about your personal or company's affairs to determine whether your tax position is correct.
We will always:
- let you explain any apparent omissions from your tax returns or trading accounts
- give you the chance to volunteer any information about irregularities
We can ask to see, amongst other documents:
- your business records, if we are examining your trading accounts
- all your personal bank and building society accounts, if we think they will help us with our compliance review
You'll be given a reasonable amount of time to produce the information we request.
We may ask to talk to you to discuss your financial and business affairs. You can ask your agent to attend any such meeting. Meetings are useful as they allow a discussion of outstanding matters and help to resolve any problems that may have arisen during the course of the compliance review. Dealing with such matters by letter can take much longer.
Agents and professional representation
If you do not already have an agent acting for you, you can choose to be professionally represented if a compliance review is started into your tax affairs. If there is a lack of progress towards settling matters with your agent, we will tell you and then deal with you directly.
Even if you have an agent, you are always personally responsible for your own tax affairs and for ensuring true and correct tax returns are made to Revenue Jersey.
Right of appeal
You have the right of appeal if you don't agree with the outcome of your tax assessments.
The Commissioners of Appeal will hear your appeal. You can choose to present your own case to the Commissioners of Appeal or your tax agent can do it on your behalf.
If your agent presents your case you must accompany them to the appeal hearing as it may be necessary to question you on certain matters.
Settling appeals by agreement
Before an appeal is heard by the Commissioners, you may make an agreement in writing to the Comptroller to settle the dispute.
An agreement must provide:
- year under review
- the income
- the amount of tax in question
You have a further 40 days in which you may revoke the agreement which must be done in writing to the Comptroller. The appeal is otherwise determined exactly as agreed, and the Comptroller will revise the assessment or notice to give effect to the agreement.
Make a voluntary disclosure
If you're not under a review but realise you need to correct previous tax declarations, you can tell us voluntarily.
Voluntary disclosure: putting your taxes right
gov.je