All enquiry work is undertaken on the basis that claimants
should initially be given the opportunity to provide the
information you need voluntarily. Your opening letter will have set
out all the information you consider you need to decide whether the
claimant(s) were entitled to tax credits and, if so, how much they
were entitled to. In many cases the claimant(s) (and third parties
where appropriate) will provide the information requested in the
opening letter, and will continue to co-operate promptly with any
further requests over the course of your enquiry.
You should carefully consider and evaluate any information
that is provided so that you can come to an informed decision on
the entitlement and the amount of the award. Chapter 14 of the CCM
tells you how to close an enquiry once you have all of the
information you need.
If claimants do not provide the information voluntarily (or
provide only some of it) by the date specified in your letter, or
if there is no response from the claimant(s) to your request for a
meeting, you will need to decide how to proceed. You will need to
consider whether to make a decision based on the information you
hold or consider taking formal action to obtain the outstanding
information. How you proceed will depend on the risks identified at
the outset of your enquiry, the information held so far, the
claimant's co-operation with the enquiry and whether formal action
is likely to secure the missing information.
If you believe you have enough information to make an
informed decision on entitlement then you can do so and Chapter 14
of the CCM tells you how to close the enquiry. However, you should
not pursue this route purely to force the claimant to make an
appeal. The claimant might not make an appeal but even if they do,
the S19 closure decision will have brought your enquiry to an end.
You can ask the claimant to provide information in support of the
appeal but you cannot recommence your enquiries. Also, unlike
examinations there can only be one enquiry for each tax year so you
must be careful not to close the enquiry prematurely.
If you decide to take formal action to secure the missing
information see
CCM12210-
12275.
