4 years vs 6/20 years
There's been some discussion over timelines for discovery assessments and the 4/6/20 year windows.
To summarise:
HMRC can go back 4 years under normal circumstances, 6 years where carelessness can be shown, and 20 years where fraud can be shown.
What constitutes a discovery assessment is covered by
SALF409 - Enquiries into Tax Returns: discovery assessments and HMRC vs Charlton
I want to cover what the question "what constitutes negligence?" as this will drive the 4 year versus 6 year argument. The 20 year one is pretty clear so I won't cover it here.
There is a lot of information already on HMRCs website
EM5125 - Penalties: Culpability: Neglect, Negligence and Negligent Conduct
additionaly, this FTT case states http://www.financeandtaxtribunals.go...49/TC02825.pdf
from the top of page 8:
“We are of the view that the question whether a taxpayer has engaged
in negligent conduct is a question of fact in each case. We should take
the words of the statute as we find them and not try to articulate
principles which could restrict the application of the statutory words.
However, we accept that negligent conduct amounts to more than just
being wrong or taking a different view from the Revenue. We also
accept that a taxpayer who takes proper and appropriate professional
advice with a view to ensuring that his tax return is correct, and acts in
accordance with that advice (if it not obviously wrong), would not
have engaged in negligent conduct”.
So if anyone is receiving any new assessment letters for 08/09 and earlier, you should appeal and look into whether the assessment is valid as ordinarily the window for 08/09 has closed.
Also for people with open 08/09 assessments I do not think HMRC can go back further, those years are now closed.
Disclaimer - I am not a tax pro, just someone trying to be prepared and stand up for myself.
There's been some discussion over timelines for discovery assessments and the 4/6/20 year windows.
To summarise:
HMRC can go back 4 years under normal circumstances, 6 years where carelessness can be shown, and 20 years where fraud can be shown.
What constitutes a discovery assessment is covered by
SALF409 - Enquiries into Tax Returns: discovery assessments and HMRC vs Charlton
I want to cover what the question "what constitutes negligence?" as this will drive the 4 year versus 6 year argument. The 20 year one is pretty clear so I won't cover it here.
There is a lot of information already on HMRCs website
EM5125 - Penalties: Culpability: Neglect, Negligence and Negligent Conduct
additionaly, this FTT case states http://www.financeandtaxtribunals.go...49/TC02825.pdf
from the top of page 8:
“We are of the view that the question whether a taxpayer has engaged
in negligent conduct is a question of fact in each case. We should take
the words of the statute as we find them and not try to articulate
principles which could restrict the application of the statutory words.
However, we accept that negligent conduct amounts to more than just
being wrong or taking a different view from the Revenue. We also
accept that a taxpayer who takes proper and appropriate professional
advice with a view to ensuring that his tax return is correct, and acts in
accordance with that advice (if it not obviously wrong), would not
have engaged in negligent conduct”.
So if anyone is receiving any new assessment letters for 08/09 and earlier, you should appeal and look into whether the assessment is valid as ordinarily the window for 08/09 has closed.
Also for people with open 08/09 assessments I do not think HMRC can go back further, those years are now closed.
Disclaimer - I am not a tax pro, just someone trying to be prepared and stand up for myself.
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