Investigation
An investigation is a compliance check and we will use that phrase in this material. A compliance check is any activity HMRC undertakes to check that a person is paying the right amount of tax and receiving the right allowances and tax reliefs. Not all compliance checks need a notice of enquiry.
One compliance check
A compliance check may start by checking
- one type of tax or duty for one tax period, or
- more than one type of tax or duty for one tax period.
The check may be widened to include other taxes or duties and/or earlier tax periods. This extends the scope of a single compliance check. It is one compliance check even if parts of it are undertaken by different compliance caseworkers.
A change in the caseworker or team undertaking a compliance check does not mean that a new compliance check has started. For example, a new compliance check does not start when an existing check is taken over by a CIF team or Specialist Investigations.
Separate compliance checks
Although HMRC tries to look at the risks posed by each case across taxes and duties, there will be occasions when different compliance checks are started without any overall co-ordination. For example, an Employer Compliance check and a VAT assurance visit may take place separately but at about the same time. If these activities are not part of a co-ordinated check of the person's tax affairs, they are two separate compliance checks.
Click here to return to Section 94 Finance Act 2009.
