![171633](https://www.taxation.co.uk/images/default-source/woodwing/171633.png?sfvrsn=ebb13137_2)
Key points
- TMA 1970 s 29 remains the key enactment for HMRC to make a discovery but it does not give it an open-ended power to raise an assessment.
- Taxpayers are protected by the time limits given in TMA 1970 s 34 and s 36 for a valid assessment to be raised.
- The Supreme Court in CRC v Tooth helped to clarify a number of issues – this article focuses on the issue of ‘collective knowledge’.
- The high income child benefit charge legislation was introduced without anybody considering whether s 29 needed to be revised to include the new charge.
- All too often an HMRC inspector will open an enquiry to obtain confirmation of a charge that they already know about and then penalise the taxpayer.
- HMRC has decided not to appeal the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Paul Brown.
The concept of discovery has been...
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