Discovery Assessment | Section 29 Taxes Management Act 1970

Section 29(1) Taxes Management Act 1970

If you receive a Discovery Assessments letter from HMRC quoting Section 29(1) TMA 1970, then HMRC have information that you have under-paid tax or received too many tax reliefs.

Before replying to the officer who sent the letter, you should speak to specialist.

Even if the time-limit for opening a investigation has passed or an investigation has been concluded and may not be re-opened, HMRC may still raise discovery assessments for tax lost.

These are issued by HMRC under Section 29(1) of the Taxes Management Act 1970.

What are Discovery Assessments?

They may be raised if income has not been declared, tax has been under-assessed, or excessive relief has been awarded. These are often issued in relation to an offshore bank and building society accounts, as these are harder for HMRC to find.
HMRC officers may raise discovery assessments if one of the two following conditions applies:-

• The full and accurate facts were not available due to incomplete disclosure, negligence or fraudulent behaviour by the taxpayer or agents
• The officer completing an enquiry could not have reasonably been expected to have been aware of the loss of tax

There are instances however, when HMRC officers may NOT issue discovery assessments.

If the HMRC officer making an enquiry into a return made an error in agreement or failed to consider a point, despite being in possession of all the relevant facts, they may not later raise discovery assessments.

One interesting case in the Court of Appeal, Langham v Veltema (2004 (STC 544)), awarded a victory to HMRC when judges ruled that HMRC officers may raise discovery assessments if new information comes to light, even if the taxpayer has not been negligent or fraudulent in submitting their tax return.

The case in question involved the valuation of a property from the taxpayer to a company owned by him.

The taxpayer had a professional valuation carried out on the property for capital gains calculations for his Self-Assessment Return but, after this had been submitted, a higher market value for the property was agreed (for the purposes of the company’s Corporation Tax Return).

It was ruled that these could be raised by HMRC as this constituted new information that tax had been under-assessed as HMRC could not possibly have been made aware of this at the time.

HMRC then issued guidance for taxpayers to protect themselves by stating, in the additional information section of their return, that the capital gain was calculated using an independent professional valuation and giving the name of the person/company who carried out the valuation.

How long do HMRC have to raise discovery assessments?

HMRC officers have:-

• 6 years from the filing date in cases of incomplete disclosure, and
• 20 years from the filing date in cases of tax fraud or neglect.

If you have already undergone an investigation by HMRC and know that you have left out information or have offshore accounts stashed away then you NEED to contact a discovery assessments specialist who can guide you through.

If you don’t… you could be faced with discovery assessments from HMRC and risk going to prison.

It is that simple.

Call KinsellaTax with your enquiry and put your mind at rest. Call us now on 0800 471 4546 and speak with an expert today.