Norfolk business leaders forge links with the taxman

Senior civil servants from the HM Revenue and Customs small business strategy team have held talks with business leaders in Norfolk as part of a new initiative to improve links between the two.

In a trip organised by the Norfolk Chamber, the four strong HMRC team toured the Syfer Technology factory in Norwich meeting managing director Howard Ingleson and finance director Howard Keogh.

The meeting comes as the chambers gets set to host a key conference next month on how to unlock growth in the regional economy featuring business secretary Vince Cable as the keynote speaker.

And it also included a round table discussion on topics such as R&D, tax relief, online filing, and import/export tax implications.

The HMRC team also met with the newly formcd chamber Business and Finance Group (BFG), which comprises of reprensentatives from Larking Gowen, PwC, Price Bailey, Lovewell Blake, Barclays, HSBC, Clydesdale Bank, Natwest and Lloyds TSB.

David Whitehead from Larking Gowen, chairman of the new BFG group said: 'We were delighted that the HMRC SME Strategy Team was able to meet with us to discuss many current business issues such as tax simplification, the perceived hardening approach of HMRC, start up problems and other specific issues that Chamber members had raised with us. This has opened a line of communication with the Strategy Team that will help us raise members' concerns in future.'

Today is the last chance to book a place at the Unlocking Growth Business Conference on December at OPEN, Norwich. For more details go to www.unlockinggrowth.co.uk