Alex Spencer discusses a taxpayer’s right to request that the First-tier Tribunal direct HMRC to issue a closure notice for an enquiry, and the circumstances in which advisers may wish to consider this course of action.
Occasionally, taxpayers are frustrated by the length of time it takes HMRC to conduct and conclude an enquiry after opening it. Once HMRC has opened an enquiry into a tax return, there is no statutory time limit within which HMRC must issue a closure notice. Many advisers will have experience of at least one enquiry which has taken multiple years for no apparent reason. This can cause taxpayers uncertainty about their tax affairs, and an understandable degree of frustration.
Statutory power
The power to ask the tribunal to order HMRC to issue a closure notice is a key means of militating against this uncertainty. For income tax and capital gains
