An officer of the Board can enquire into any land transaction
return.
A neutral opening in enquiries should therefore be adopted.
FA03/SCH10/PARA12(1) allows the Stamp Office to request
information for the purpose of determining whether a land
transaction return is incorrect and, if so to what extent.
There is no requirement that enquiries should only be made
into returns with which there is concern.
Reasons for dissatisfaction should not be given when opening
an enquiry even where information is held suggesting that the
return might be incorrect. The information could be misleading or
capable of explanation. The compliance caseworker should therefore
keep an open mind.
Random enquiries should not be distinguished from other
enquiries.
The possibility of errors in the purchaser’s favour as
well as errors in HM Revenue & Customs favour should always be
considered.
A compliance caseworker’s job is to check land
transaction returns and in opening the enquiry they should do no
more than seek the evidence on which they can reach an objective
firsthand judgement on the accuracy of the return.
Grounds for concern should not normally be expressed at this
stage and general explanations for them should not be sought. If a
compliance caseworker does express an opinion, it will make it
difficult for them to pursue their requests for information without
seeming to have rejected the explanations offered.
The time to seek and consider explanations is when the
evidence needed to check the accuracy of the land transaction
return has been examined and the compliance caseworker has a
clearer idea of what, if anything, needs further explanation.
