SACM12165 - Overpayment relief: Discovery assessments

An overpayment relief claim relates to a single tax year or accounting period. Tax liabilities and payments for other periods do not affect the amount of relief for that period.

However, if the grounds for the overpayment relief claim also give us grounds for believing that the person has paid less tax than was due for another year, we may be able to make a discovery assessment to recover that amount, see SAM20010.

If we make a discovery assessment, determination or amendment as a result of the overpayment relief claim, some of the normal rules that restrict our ability to make a discovery assessment do not apply

  • We do not have to show that the conditions of Section 29(4) or (5) TMA 1970 are met if the person has made a return, see EM3255.
  • The assessment, determination or amendment will be in time if it is made before the overpayment relief claim is finally determined. This is when the overpayment relief claim, or the amount to which it relates, can no longer be varied, including on appeal.
  • Where an overpayment relief claim relates to a mistake in a partnership return, the normal restrictions on making a discovery amendment to a partnership return do not apply if it is made on the same grounds as the overpayment relief claim.

Paras 6 and 7 Schedule 1AB TMA 1970

Paras 51E and F Schedule 18 FA 1998