DMBM518010 - Debt and return pursuit: Self Assessment: revenue determinations: introduction
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General
Time limits for raising a Revenue Determination
Requesting a Revenue Determination
Automatic actions by the SA and IDMS computer systems
How to view a Revenue Determination
Notify taxpayer
Pursuit and enforcement
Payments on account
Claim to reduce payments on accounts
Right of appeal
Time limits for a return to supersede a Revenue Determination
Determinations and penalties
Legislation
General
An SA taxpayer is required to file a return by the filing date. When a taxpayer fails to meet this obligation HMRC has the power to raise a Revenue Determination of the estimated liability due and unpaid.
The purpose of a Revenue Determination is to encourage the taxpayer to file the return by raising a charge (Revenue Determination) on the taxpayer's record sufficient to prompt the taxpayer to file the return and pay what is due and/or to contact us for help.
Debt Management manage the determination process and previously used SA into IDMS (Integrated Debt Management System) to mirror-automate the calculation and input process where possible, subject to certain conditions, criteria and signals.
However, we no longer use the automatic capabilities because both Debt Management and Compliance campaigns have a preference for flexibility in the pursuit of non-filers.
(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
Time limits for raising a Revenue Determination
Since 1 April 2010 determinations can only be raised within three years from the filing date of the return.
SA is not able to identify and reject determination requests made outside the time limits and care should be taken not to raise a determination outside this, as the determined amount will be invalid and illegal to pursue.
For advice on how to cancel determinations raised outside the time limit please email Mailbox, SA Compliance Determination Requests with a subject title of ‘Determination raised in error for an out of date year’.
Requesting a Revenue Determination
All requests for a determination should be made to the Determinations Team inbox at Mailbox, SA Compliance Determination Requests. You should not attempt to raise a determination yourself.
You will need to complete a determination stencil and SEES calculation to show the amount of the determination and what it is based on. See DMBM518025 for information.
(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
For advice on how to proceed with determinations amount errors where the window of opportunity has passed, please email (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) with a subject title of ‘Determination amount error’.
Automatic actions by the SA and IDMS computer systems
An automatic Action History note will be posted on IDMS to show that a determination has been requested against each appropriate return work item, and IDMS sends the request over to SA (if the overnight ‘update’ runs to schedule).
The SA computer system will raise the determination(s) plus any payments on account (POAs) for the following year before an automatic SA note is made showing the request came from IDMS together with the return years. SA then notifies IDMS of the new charges, where these are overdue and unpaid.
Raising a Revenue Determination will not clear the IDMS return work item, but will create further work items for the Revenue Determination and any POAs.
How to view a Revenue Determination
To view a Revenue Determination on SA after it has been created go to MAINTAIN RETURN SUMMARY, select the year concerned, then scroll down to the VIEW DETERMINATION button on the right. This is only accessible once a determination has been raised and is on SA.
Notify taxpayer
Once a Revenue Determination charge has been added to the taxpayer's SA record a notice form SA323 'Determination of tax due' will be automatically issued to the taxpayer, and a copy will be issued to their agent where the 64-8 signal is present on the record at that time. No record of this is put on the SA/IDMS notes.
Also, where a Revenue Determination is raised it will automatically set the level of any POA’s for the following year.
The taxpayer statement will show the amount of the Revenue Determination less any POA’s already raised/paid for that year. A statement is not a pre requisite to enforcement and there is no requirement to wait until the next statement is issued before pre-enforcement activity can proceed, such as a letter or a phone call.
Pursuit and enforcement
Once a Revenue Determination has been raised the taxpayer/customer must be given 30 days in which to file the return before enforcement action is taken, such as listing or removing assets (Taking Control of Goods) or attending a county court hearing.
This is DM policy, not a legislative requirement and does not stop us from contacting the customer by letter or phone to request the return and/or payment.
Payments on account
From 6 April 2009 the minimum liability to create payments on account (POA) for the following year was increased to £1,000.
(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
Claim to reduce payments on accounts
If a claim to adjust payments on account, has been made and actioned to reduced POAs, these will be restored when a determination is made for that year.
A claim to reduce POAs cannot be made against a year where a determination has been raised. However a claim to reduce can be made against the POAs created for the following year if the return for that year is not overdue.
Where we are pursuing a return for a year where the previous year is subject to a Claim to Reduce on the Payments on Account (POA’s), the determination figure should be based on the year on which the latest return has been submitted.
e.g., The 17/18 return is in and creates POA’s for 18/19, on which there is a Claim to Reduce, and the return remains outstanding. The 19/20 determination is based on the 17/18 return.
Where the Revenue Determination and any overdue POAs remains unpaid, interest and late-payment penalties will be added to the taxpayer's record.
Right of appeal
There is no right of appeal against a Revenue Determination. But submission of the return within the time limits allowed will supersede the Revenue Determination and the determined amount of tax will be automatically amended to the amount shown on the return.
Any related interest, late-payment penalties and payments on account will also be automatically amended.
Time limits for a return to supersede a Revenue Determination
From 1 April 2010, legislation states the time limit to accept a self-assessment return to replace a determination is three years from the filing date of the return, or within 12 months from the date of the determination, whichever is the later.
(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
Determinations and late-filing penalties
The raising of penalties and determinations are independent from each other.
Preferably, the one-day, three-month and six-months penalties should be raised before a determination although this is not a legal requirement, (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) so there is no need to hold-up critical enforcement or bankruptcy actions on this account.
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Legislation
The legislation that covers Revenue Determinations is in Sections 28C TMA 1970 (see DMBM450120).