Small business taxpayers are being unfairly targeted by inspectors for following Inland Revenue advice when filling in self-assessment returns, says an expert.

Carole Jordan, Sussex spokeswoman for the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants and founder of Brighton-based BusinessHeads, said the advice given by the Inland Revenue to people running businesses with turnovers of £15,000 a year or less, was to fill in only three lines on the self-assessment form - profit, expenses and net profit, which gave the taxable amount.

But she had learned it was Inland Revenue policy to then target these taxpayers for investigation.

She said: "Despite an initiative intended to simplify matters, which has Government support, tax inspectors are targeting these businesses for investigation in order to meet their performance targets.

"The Government should take action now and tell the Inland Revenue to stop stifling small- scale enterprise and, instead, devote its resources to seeking out individuals and businesses who do not even register for tax.

"We are now recommending, where business income is close to the £15,000 turnover limit for three-line accounts, companies should consider submitting detailed accounts.

"This should create fewer problems in future and they will be less likely to have to spend time dealing with the tax inspector."