SAOG17400 - Tax compliance risk management process for customers managed by Mid-sized Business: checking claim there is no SAO
Where, unusually, the Mid-sized Business Customer Engagement Team (CET) receives a claim that
- there is no person within the company or group who had the responsibility for the financial accounting arrangements for a company, and
- therefore no notification can be made,
they must test this claim.
We might receive such a claim in response to a question we ask as to why there has been no notification.
If as a result of the CET or Caseworker’s enquiries HMRC is satisfied that no such person could be identified there will in fact be no Senior Accounting Officer (SAO). In such a case there can be no penalty on the company for failure to make a notification and no penalties for a failure to perform the main duty or provide a certificate.
The CET or Caseworker should, however, take such a claim into account as potentially a significant risk factor when risk-assessing the company’s accounts.
This type of claim may occur in administration or liquidation cases where, unusually, the administrator or liquidator
- does not meet the definition of the SAO, see SAOG12200, and
- cannot identify a person who does.