EIM12820 - Termination payments and benefits: handling enquiries

The technical knowledge required in order to deal with termination payments and benefits means that this is work appropriate to officers with technical experience in this area. (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

Enquiries from taxpayers and employer on termination payments should be dealt with through the non-statutory clearance procedure. HMRC will no longer provide clearance outside of the Non-Statutory Clearance route. To find out about when advice from HMRC can be relied on go to Find out about the Non-Statutory Clearance Service. Where the enquiry involves a proposed transaction, the answer can usually only be in the form of guidance and that should be made clear, whether the response is in writing or otherwise. But you should be aware that even where guidance is given we would not seek to retrospectively impose any different result provided that an enquirer has acted in good faith and supplied all necessary information. However, if the guidance we give proves technically wrong we would have to put the correct view in operation for any subsequent transaction.