Mark McLaughlin asks whether some discovery assessments are really made using HMRC’s best judgment.
HMRC’s discovery powers are an important and valuable weapon in its tax compliance armoury. There are separate discovery provisions for individuals and companies. This article focuses on the former (TMA 1970, s 29).
The discovery legislation broadly provides for an HMRC officer (or HMRC) to make an assessment of income tax or capital gains tax which in their opinion ought to be charged in order to make good a loss of tax brought about due to (for example) a taxpayer’s omission or under-declaration of income or gains.
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