The deadline for responding to the letter is only 21 days so it is vital to respond as quickly as possible to avoid an HMRC compliance check which could be triggered for failure to act, resulting in penalties.

Typically provisional figures are provided on income from abroad, income from an estate or partnership income where a partner has to complete a personal return before knowing their share of partnership profits for the period.

There may be circumstances in which some, or all, of the standard accounts information is entered on a provisional basis. For example, there may have been a change of accounting date requiring two sets of accounts to be prepared.