COM52030 - Claims / reliefs: CTSA claims frameworks: claims and elections not made in a return

This subject is presented as follows:

Claims which cannot be made in a return
Function RAMA (Record / Amend Assessment)

Claims which cannot be made in a return

Paragraph 59 FA 1998, applies Schedule 1A TMA to claims or elections that cannot be dealt with under Paragraphs 57 or 58, that is, by inclusion in a return as first made or by amendment. In particular, Schedule 1A applies to

• An election that does not relate to a particular AP

• A claim made within its own time-limits but after the time-limit for amendment of the return

An election that does not relate to a particular AP may have effect in relation, for example, to a particular sort of income until it is withdrawn. Such an election is not tied to specific APs, takes effect from a particular date and remains in force until it is revoked. Any such claim or election falls within Schedule 1A in all circumstances.

Claims and elections to which Schedule 1A applies are to be made outside any return, to an officer of the Board, in such form as the Board may require. They must also contain a declaration that the particulars given are correctly stated ‘to the best of the information and belief of the person making the claim’. In practice, the Board does not normally determine forms for CT claims and the statutory requirement for the claim to contain a declaration is not normally insisted upon.

Much the same powers and rights of correction, amendment and enquiry apply to these claims as to returns, as do the record-keeping and record preservation obligations and the related penalties and the finality rules. There are, however, important distinctions between the Schedule 1A TMA 1970 and Schedule 18 FA 1998 enquiry regimes and different closure procedures apply to each.

For more information about Schedule 1A, see the Enquiry Handbook (at EH1080-1082, EH930 onwards - particularly EH949, and EH460 onwards) and the Company Taxation Manual (at CT10635). For more information on concluding Schedule 1A enquiries, see subject ‘Enquiries Under Schedule 1A TMA 1970’ (COM71140) in the ‘Enquiries’ business area.

Claims made outside the return will be subject to the same “process now, check later” treatment as claims made in a return. They must be given effect “as soon as practicable”.

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Function RAMA (Record / Amend Assessment)

If the claim cannot be included in a return, either when the return is first made or by amendment, and is within Schedule 1A TMA 1970

• Use the Process a Claim option in Function RAMA to record the claim, including, if appropriate, any corrections needed to the company’s figures

You can do that for any live AP where a self assessment (Word 28KB) or Revenue Determination exists (on the live AP or any linked superseded AP)

• With no informal discharge present on it
• Where the last valid action on the AP was to

• • Prepare a Revenue Determination (Word 29KB) 
  • Record a Self Assessment
  • Correct a Return
  • Record a Taxpayer Amendment (Word 30KB) 
  • Process a Claim
  • Prepare a Revenue Amendment (Word 30KB) 
  • Prepare / Amend a Discovery Assessment (Word 28KB) 

For most companies, most of the time, there will only ever be one assessment for each AP - the original self assessment - though there may be a number of amendments to it. The computer shows you the details for the last issued assessment version for the AP.

To process the claim

• Highlight the existing entries that need changing

• Enter the company’s amended figures in the Dialogue Box that appears over screen COT121N

If you have to correct the company’s amended figures

• Enter the corrected figures

Note: You must tell the computer that you have corrected the figures shown in the company’s claim to enable it to issue the appropriate assessing output (word 46KB). Do that by changing the initial value ‘N’ to ‘Y’ in the ‘Are you making a Correction?’ field on screen COT121G.

When you do that, the computer displays this advisory message

• The following standard message will appear on the printed output:

When you have confirmed the changes, the computer

• Records the company’s claim (or corrected claim)
• Issues a claim acknowledgement (including the standard message shown above if you have corrected the claim) to the company, with a payslip attached if there is any outstanding liability for the AP, showing the amended figures and any free-format message you entered. If necessary, you can suppress assessing output (Word 27KB) 

• Deals with any overpayment which results from the claim, by reallocating the money to any outstanding liability on the computer record and repaying any balance (or puts the overpayment on the Overpayments Review List (LOPU) or Overpayments List (LOPD) Work List if it is inhibited from handling it automatically
• Takes you, where appropriate, to Function PPEN (Prepare Penalty Determination) to make or amend any tax-related (Word 30KB) penalty determination, if the claim affects the tax base for the penalty. (It makes an entry on the Penalties Requiring Review List (PENR) Work List when you process the claim, and removes it when you make or amend the penalty determinations.)

For a list of functions to use in particular situations, see COM52011.

For legislation applying to this subject, see COM52012.