COM20001 - Assessing: CT pay and file assessments: introduction
CT Pay and File was introduced for company APs ending on or after 1 October 1993. CT Self Assessment replaced CT Pay and File for APs ending on or after 1 July 1999. You now need to issue a small number of CT Pay and File assessments.
For a CT Pay and File AP a company had to
- Pay the CT due for the AP by the due date (Word 49KB) with or without an assessment
- Deliver a return by the filing date (Word 42KB)
The Technical Caseworker then issued an assessment or a loss determination (see section ‘Loss Determinations (S41A TMA 1970)’ (COM21000) in this business area) to finalise the liability for the AP.
During the planning of the CT Pay and File regime, the then Inland Revenue (now HM Revenue and Customs) agreed with interested outside bodies that assessments would be made for every case with any income. Technical Caseworkers therefore issued an assessment even if
- Reliefs entirely covered the profit and there was no net liability to tax for the AP
- They also made a loss determination under S41A TMA 1970 for the same AP
The law surrounding the issue and content of assessments did not change with the introduction of CT Pay and File.
The process for making CT Pay and File assessments was unchanged by the introduction of CTSA and needs to be followed when, exceptionally, you need to deal with a return form for a CT Pay and File AP. It was, broadly, as follows
- A Clerical Caseworker captured the computation of profits and tax payable from the company’s return onto COTAX
- COTAX automatically copied this to the assessing function for use in making an assessment
- A Technical Caseworker screened the return and made a CT Pay and File assessment using the appropriate assessing function
COTAX does not produce file copies of any assessments. It does, however, keep a permanent record of every assessment and amendment. You cannot alter or delete this record but you can view the content of each version.
There are other types of assessments on companies for which you need to make a manual assessment and record the charge on the SAFE IT system. For more information see COM23130.
