BN66 - Court of Appeal and beyond

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Draft letter to HMRC

Please do not bother Montpelier with this as this is a very busy time of year for them. In any case there is no guarantee that they have copies of all correspondence you received from HMRC.

Dear Sir or Madam

Please can you supply copies of any letters you sent me opening enquiries into the following tax years:

2001/2
2002/3
2003/4

If you have not opened an enquiry into one or more of these tax years, please confirm that you will withdraw the corresponding Closure Notices and remove the adjustments from my returns.

Yours faithfully,

Mr A Taxpayer

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Hi Donkey - long time no speak!! Little one 19 months now - seems like a long time since we were first sat in the court room when I was 6 months pregnant.

Any chance of cheeky request... an update to first page. Always helps husband undertsand current position

Yes it's coming up to 2 years since we were in the High Court, and 4 years since BN66 was announced. The wheels of justice turn very slowly indeed.

I have updated the 1st page as requested and will try harder in future to keep it up to date.

[CanPayButWouldRatherNot]

DR ... i'll do the easy things like nudging you when the shop window (front page) needs a nudge ... you do the hard things like raising all those FOI's and generally being a good egg !!

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Important Clarification

Previously I said an enquiry would be a letter referring to Code of Practice 8. This is not always the case.

The crucial thing to look for is a reference to Section 9A Notice TMA 1970. This is what constitutes a formal notice of enquiry.

If you are in any doubt as to whether you received enquiry notices, I would just send the draft letter above. You have got nothing to lose by asking HMRC for copies of these letters.

[elpinar]

Have you received a Closure Notice where there was no prior enquiry opened in to that particular tax year?

One person who this happened to has challenged HMRC and they conceded that they should not have done this and have cancelled the sums owing from their account.

If this happened to you then write to whoever issued the CN and ask that they do the same.

shoud MP not know if this has happened and challenge it on our behalfs?

[DonkeyRhubarb]

shoud MP not know if this has happened and challenge it on our behalfs?

Possibly but MP may not have copies of all correspondence from HMRC. It would be a big undertaking to trawl through everyone's files looking for tax years which don't have an enquiry. Even if they were to find such instances how could they be sure that clients had simply not bothered to forward the notices on to them?

On the other hand...

Clearly it is HMRC who are at fault for issuing CNs with no prior enquiry. They have already admitted it was a mistake to one person, in writing, and withdrawn the CN. This person's potential liability has been reduced by approx £40,000 as a result.

Surely therefore it is HMRC who should be being proactive. They know mistakes have been made and surely they should be taking steps to rectify this. No?

[Emigre]

Possibly but MP may not have copies of all correspondence from HMRC. It would be a big undertaking to trawl through everyone's files looking for tax years which don't have an enquiry. Even if they were to find such instances how could they be sure that clients had simply not bothered to forward the notices on to them?

On the other hand...

Clearly it is HMRC who are at fault for issuing CNs with no prior enquiry. They have already admitted it was a mistake to one person, in writing, and withdrawn the CN. This person's potential liability has been reduced by approx £40,000 as a result.

Surely therefore it is HMRC who should be being proactive. They know mistakes have been made and surely they should be taking steps to rectify this. No?

And there I was thinking that taxation was an exact science... If there was certainty, then by definition all people would be treated in the same way for similar circumstances. All I have learnt from this is that taxation is at best subjective, but only of course in the hands of Hector.

Clearly, the unknown party has a far more obliging tax inspector than some of the rest of us.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Re. enquiry notices

A couple of people have asked won't HMRC just say they sent them, even if they didn't, and claim for example they got lost in the post.

They can't do this. When an enquiry notice is issued the letter is stored in the system. This is why I have suggested people write to HMRC and ask for copies. If they can't provide you with a copy it means they didn't send one.

I know we think they are dishonest but even they wouldn't go as far as fabricating letters with fictitious dates.

[smalldog]

Re. enquiry notices

A couple of people have asked won't HMRC just say they sent them, even if they didn't, and claim for example they got lost in the post.

They can't do this. When an enquiry notice is issued the letter is stored in the system. This is why I have suggested people write to HMRC and ask for copies. If they can't provide you with a copy it means they didn't send one.

I know we think they are dishonest but even they wouldn't go as far as fabricating letters with fictitious dates.

its a great idea DR! checks and balances and all that..

[TAF4]

its a great idea DR! checks and balances and all that..

It's also a great idea if all 3000 (or so) impacted players could request copies in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It will give Hector something to do during the quiet time.