Where the purchaser and agent will not co-operate, or are only
providing intermittent or partial co- operation, the compliance
caseworker may have to arrive at their own figure for what the land
transaction return assessment should be, on the basis of the
information obtained.
Exploratory negotiations may take place at a stage when all
aspects of your enquiry have not been completed. Indeed the
negotiations may themselves reveal the need for further enquiries
to clarify the facts.
In the course of such negotiations, informal proposals may be
put to the purchaser and the resultant tax effect outlined (for
example, by enclosing a computation).
If this is done the purchaser cannot argue that the letter
comprises a closure notice as it will not have included all the
elements necessary to a closure notice, in particular it will not
have stated that the enquiry is completed.
If it is felt that there may be any doubt or future problems,
it should be clearly stated that the letter is not a closure
notice.
Since a closure notice must be issued to the purchaser, it
should not be possible for anything addressed to the purchaser's
agent to be construed as such a notice.
