EM6402A - Contract settlements: acceptance: authorisation levels - WMBC Mid-Sized Businesses

The guidance about contract settlements at EM6000+ only relates to direct tax. You must never include VAT or VAT penalties in a contract settlement.

All letters of offer and acceptance of the offer must be authorised by either your Manager or another Authorising Officer.

You must always ensure that a full audit trail of contract authorisations for both the offer and acceptance is recorded digitally, for example in Caseflow, and within any paper file.

Offers of £500,000 or more must be authorised by following the guidance in the table below.

Authorisation - settlements of £500,000 or more

MSB work area	Authorisation limits
(total value of offer)	Authorised by
MSB Complex Evasion Programme (CEP) team: CEP Direct Taxes (CT/IT) and CEP Employer Duties	Up to £1m	MSB Evasion G6
MSB Complex Evasion Programme (CEP) team: CEP Direct Taxes (CT/IT) and CEP Employer Duties	Over £1m	A second MSB Evasion G6
MSB Direct Taxes team (not CEP)	Over £1m	G6 Direct Tax manager or functional lead
MSB Employer Duties team (not CEP)	1) The total liabilities amount to £500,000 or more; 2) The ‘voluntary’ grossed up settle amounts to £500,00 or more; 3) The combined totals of both of the above which amount to £500,000 or more; 4) A penalty only offer where the underlying duties amount to £500,000 or more; 5) An instalment arrangement will exceed 3 years; 6) The offer differs from the expected amount to the extent that it cannot be accepted locally	For all of 1) to 6) - MSB ED Grade 7 approval through mailbox

For details about who to contact for this higher level of authorisation, see the Complex Evasion Programme (CEP) webpage for a list of MSB Evasions Grade 6’s.