CH262400 - How to do a compliance check: Authorisation Levels: Classes of authorised officer: Permission to undertake a visit with less than 7 days’ notice and applying to the tribunal for approval to undertake a visit
Most of our visits are made with more than 7 days’ notice and with the consent of the person whose tax position is being checked, see CH252500.
In some cases, for example VAT pre-credibility checks, we do make visits with less than 7 days’ notice but these are always at the person’s request or with their consent. In these situations you do not need to get authorised officer agreement to undertake a visit with less than 7 days’ notice.
In all other situations you must obtain the agreement of the authorised officer before you undertake a visit without giving at least 7 days’ prior notice.
Where visiting premises is a regular part of your normal activities (for example for MTIC, Hidden Economy and Labour Provider teams) the authorised officer will be your line manager or their manager.
Note: The authorised officer will be at SO or above for the initial period.
Where visiting premises does not form a regular part of normal activities for your business area, you must request agreement from an authorised officer outside your management chain.
Note: The authorised officer will be at grade 7 or above for the initial period.
If the authorised officer is not your manager and you consider that it is advisable to obtain tribunal approval for a visit you should first discuss the case with your manager, see CH254500. If your manager agrees you should make a report, see CH260500, to the authorised officer for agreement. The authorised officer in these circumstances will be the same as for a visit with less than 7 days’ notice, that is, SO or above, or grade 7 or above, depending on whether visiting premises is a regular part of your normal activities or not.
A template, CHApp2.1 (Internal Template IT01 in SEES Forms and Letters) is available for you to make your report to an authorised officer. The authorised officer may use template CHApp2.2 (Internal Template IT02 in SEES Forms and Letters) to reply.
