How likely is a revenue audit and what will bring their attention

I am just wondering if there are certain things on a company return that will catch the attention of revenue and make an audit more likely?
We are a relatively new company, in year 3 now, and I just want to make sure that I do not do something basic that will bring on an audit. For example I don't have many addbacks of expense as when I take expenses I have already allocated which portion of say the phone bill is company and which personal and only pay out the business amount. We have high enough expense, but I keep travel logs and referenced client names for each, no receipts though as using civil service rate. No real profits to talk of as most goes on wages and expenses, but we are only starting out.
I am not late with Vat, paye...returns.

If we are to be audited would they contact us first to question us about things or arrive or what? Just wondering.

ninak said:

I am just wondering if there are certain things on a company return that will catch the attention of revenue and make an audit more likely?
We are a relatively new company, in year 3 now, and I just want to make sure that I do not do something basic that will bring on an audit. For example I don't have many addbacks of expense as when I take expenses I have already allocated which portion of say the phone bill is company and which personal and only pay out the business amount. We have high enough expense, but I keep travel logs and referenced client names for each, no receipts though as using civil service rate. No real profits to talk of as most goes on wages and expenses, but we are only starting out.
I am not late with Vat, paye...returns.

If we are to be audited would they contact us first to question us about things or arrive or what? Just wondering.

Click to expand...

Have a read through this (a couple of years old now, but still very relevant):

[broken link removed]

A lot of people, including tax agents, don't seem to appreciate the value of filling in ALL the fields on the Form 11 / CT1 correctly.

Timeliness in submitting returns (even if the liability can't readily be paid) is another important factor in being seen to have a good compliance record.

Here's a decent article about Revenue Audits / Investigations from the Sunday business post a few months ago:
[broken link removed]

And finally, Revenue are adopting a wider range of compliance methodologies nowadays, and you may well find that you will get a letter or a call requesting a clarification about something, rather than them initiating a full blown audit straight off the bat. Although a certain amount of people get audited randomly, as a matter of course, every year, so you could just be unlucky.

But if you've got a clear conscience, have kept good records, and can show you've acted in good faith, a Revenue audit, while an inconvenience, need not necessarily be something to dread as it can give you a clean bill of health...

Thanks Mandelbrot. I will be looking in to all those threads and the articles.