Taxpayer Safeguards: Rights and Protections for Individuals 3rd ed

When trouble arises with HMRC, it is essential to know what rights clients have in standing up to any real or perceived unfairness.

This book addresses in a practical manner the question of the safeguards that are available in particular circumstances. The book covers the whole spectrum of protections – statutory, judicial, administrative, and so on – setting these against the background of the rule of law.

The impressive scope of this book ranges across HMRC powers generally, enquiries, reasonable excuse, appeals, human rights, double jeopardy, offshore matters, criminal offences, internal review, mediation, judicial review, the HMRC charter, vulnerable taxpayers, and much more.

The current author and the publishers acknowledge the meticulous work carried out by Robin Williamson, who created this book and who updated it for its second edition. We have together sought to preserve and build on Robin’s wisdom and insights.

New for this edition:

• Additional taxes subject to the Schedule 36 information notices and inspections regime
• Updated figures re financial institution notices
• Additional case law reference re burden of proof re whether information is reasonably required
• Additional case law re restrictions on information and documents that HMRC can request
• Additional case law reference re “reason to suspect”
• New commentary on practicalities of dealing with one-to-many letters
• Case law re computer-generated notices to file
• Additional record-keeping requirements for Making Tax Digital
• Case law re restrictions on scope of an enquiry
• Further case law re estoppel
• Limitations, in practice, on referrals to tribunal during an enquiry
• Additional case law re mistakes in closure notices
• Additional case law re taxpayer right to apply for closure notice
• Expanded commentary re when an officer can reasonably be expected to be aware of an under-assessment
• Anecdotal evidence of increasing levels of HMRC penalties
• Requirement to notify HMRC within a reasonable period of time when discovering a mistake
• Commentary on meaning of “deliberate” behaviour updated and expanded
• Additional case law reference re scope of innocent error
• Additional case law re meaning of “special circumstances”
• Commentary on guidance re scope of general anti-abuse rule
• Additional case law reference re follower notices
• Case law and practicalities in relation to challenging follower notices
• Updated commentary re penalties for failure to make returns under Making Tax Digital
• Updated commentary re appealing to tribunal instead of or after a review
• Updated mediation statistics
• Commentary on whether “tax facts” can be without prejudice
• Clarification re role of Upper Tribunal re judicial review cases
• Expanded commentary re use of representatives at tribunal hearings
• Legitimate expectation – expanded commentary re concept of detriment to the taxpayer
• Updated HMRC statement re litigation and settlement strategy
• Updated commentary re tax settlement assurance programme
• Criminal procedures – updated HMRC policy
• Civil fraud investigations (COP 9) – updated HMRC policy and wording
• Additional category (reasonable requirement for children, disabled persons and older persons) of goods that may not be seized
• Updated Adjudicator statistics
• Expanded commentary on rule of law – principles acting as constraint on official powers
• Supreme Court application of principle that the law should be accessible
• New commentary on fairness in relation to marginal rates of tax
• Expanded commentary and additional case law re principle of estoppel