EM3805 - Concluding the Enquiry: Statement of Assets and Liabilities

If you have established an understatement of profits in a full business enquiry and have not already obtained a statement of assets and liabilities EM3540 you should do so before concluding the enquiry.

You should not seek a statement of assets and liabilities at the end of any enquiry in which you have not shown that the returns are incorrect or where only non culpable adjustments have been agreed.

When concluding an aspect enquiry you will not normally need to ask for such a statement because you will not have reviewed the capital position as part of your enquiry. But there will be occasions when it will be good practice or necessary to do so, for example where

• having found an omitted source or understatement of income you have gone on to review the taxpayer’s capital position
• an asset giving rise to a chargeable gain has been concealed
• you have doubts about the taxpayer’s capital position, even though he or she is prepared to sign a certificate of full disclosure
• the taxpayer requests settlement by an instalment offer EM6214.

Although you would be able to use FA08/Sch36/Para1 which covers ‘information’ to get a list of a taxpayer’s assets, you would not be able to insist it is certified EM3540.

You may want to incorporate a statement of assets and liabilities at a very recent date in the certificate of disclosure or include a specific reference to the statement of assets. Alter the wording of the certificate as necessary in such cases.

The circumstances in which you might want to consider this option include cases of insufficient means EM6214 and those where you suspect the completeness of the disclosure.