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Putting an end to staleness
Key points
- The Supreme Court decision in CRC v Tooth [2021] UKSC 17 clarifies divergent previous decisions and confirms that there is no concept of staleness.
- HMRC’s powers to raise assessments derive from the discovery provisions in TMA 1970 s 29; but this section makes no reference to time limits (s 34 does).
- The decision states that a discovery is a particular event in time and does not cease to be such with the passage of time (once a discovery has been made the s 29(1) condition has been met).
- An important point in the Supreme Court decision is that it was clear that there had been no inaccuracy deliberate or otherwise in Mr Tooth’s return.
- Of concern is the statement that a computer ‘glitch’ prevented Mr Tooth filing as he wanted.
Few topics have generated as much controversy among tax professionals as that of whether staleness limits HMRC’s...
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