Does HMRC check expenses?

[inector]

In US, when you submit tax filings to IRS, they don't care what you wrote there, as long as you pay some tax.

Is UK the same? Do they check every transaction?

 

[Sols]

What you're talking about are called audits. Most tax authorities don't question most tax returns and just accept them.

Both the IRS and HMRC conduct audits if something about a tax return triggers an alert.

IIRC, the IRS performs more audits but the HMRC perform more audits as a percentage of tax returns filed.

 

[JackAlabama]

In US, when you submit tax filings to IRS, they don't care what you wrote there, as long as you pay some tax.

Is UK the same? Do they check every transaction?

would assume they doing some rudimentary automated checks for reasonable expenses like where your address is etc.
If you earn 10k a year but have an address in mayfair. it might trigger something.

 

[khinkali]

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 gives the IRS $80 billion over ten years to hire up to 87,000 new IRS employees, largely to increase the number of tax audits. Individuals making under $400k per year are not supposed to get extra scrutiny; emphasis will be on high earners, large corporations, and partnerships.

 

[wellington]

They track your social medias etc and others so yeah - the watchful eye of HMRC is always observing