CCM11330 - End of Year Issues: Examination still open at 5 April - making S14 decision for following year

Where you have an examination open at 5 April, you will be responsible for ensuring that the S14 decision is made in good time for the following year. When you are satisfied that you have enough information on which to base your S14 decision, you should arrange to have the relevant details entered on the NTC system as though they were the claimant’s response to the S17 notice. You should do this in all of the following circumstances

• the claimant(s) has not responded to the S17 notice but is co-operating with your examination and has given you a verbal response
• the claimant(s) has responded to the S17 notice, and you consider that the details in the response are correct
• the claimant(s) has responded to the S17 notice, and you consider that the details in their response are not correct.

Whichever of these circumstances apply, you should make the S14 decision based on the information you have obtained during your examination, if relevant.

You should make the S14 decision as early as possible, and at least one month before the first specified date, see CCM11045, as failure to do so may mean that the provisional payments being made for the current year will be stopped from 1 September. If, exceptionally, your examination has led to you having serious doubts about the claimant’s entitlement to tax credits, it may be appropriate to make the S14 decision on the basis of nil entitlement.

Following your S14 decision, the initial award of tax credits for the following year will then be based on the details you have notified to NTC. Note that this does NOT mean that you have agreed these figures, and it will not affect your right to open an examination or an enquiry into that year at a later date. The claimant(s) will have the right of appeal against the S14 decision made on the basis of your figures if they do not agree with them.

You should explain to the claimant(s) that, as you are still examining their claim for the earlier year, you have also made an initial decision on their claim for the current year – but only so that they will continue to receive payments of tax credits (but note that if your S14 decision is that there is no entitlement, the payments will cease). The decision you have made will not affect either their rights or yours.

Where you consider that you have sufficient information to make a S18 decision, you will be able to use that information to make your S14 decision.

If you consider that you do not have sufficient information to make a S18 decision for the year under examination, you will still need to make a S14 decision for the following year. You should not delay making the S14 decision even if you have had to use the formal powers at S18(10) to obtain information about the year under examination. You should make the S14 decision to the best of your judgement, based on the information you have. It may, in some circumstances, be appropriate to make the decision that the claimant(s) will have no entitlement for the following year. The claimant(s) will have the right of appeal against your decision, and your action will not prevent an examination or enquiry being made into that year at a later date.