{"id":2636,"date":"2026-02-22T14:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2026-02-22T14:45:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:45:03","slug":"choose-one-by-mark-mclaughlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/choose-one-by-mark-mclaughlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Choose one! by Mark McLaughlin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Mark McLaughlin looks at HMRC discovery assessments issued on an alternative basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Some years ago, there was a sketch on the satirical television show Spitting Image about a former Prime<br>Minister (who shall remain nameless) who was known for his indecisiveness. Members of his Cabinet tried to<br>improve his decision-making skills by inviting him to make a simple choice between having a cup of tea or a<br>cup of coffee. The Prime Minister agonized in his deliberations, sweating profusely. Eventually, after much<br>coaxing, the Cabinet triumphantly celebrated when the Prime Minister finally declared: \u201cI\u2019ll have tea\u201d, before<br>sending them into despair by adding: \u201c\u2026with some coffee in it\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The indecisiveness of the Prime Minister in the Spitting Image sketch is sometimes replicated by HMRC<br>when it comes to issuing discovery assessments. This can happen if a transaction is capable of being<br>interpreted in different ways for tax purposes, with a different tax treatment applying to each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Download the full article below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Choose-One-by-Mark-McLaughlin-.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Choose One by Mark McLaughlin.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-b001709e-7a50-4977-8c92-3775eaa7ca15\" href=\"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Choose-One-by-Mark-McLaughlin-.pdf\">Choose One by Mark McLaughlin<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Choose-One-by-Mark-McLaughlin-.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-b001709e-7a50-4977-8c92-3775eaa7ca15\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mark McLaughlin looks at HMRC discovery assessments issued on an alternative basis. Some years ago, there was a sketch on the satirical television show Spitting Image about a former PrimeMinister (who shall remain nameless) who was known for his indecisiveness. Members of his Cabinet tried toimprove his decision-making skills by inviting him to make a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-february-march-2025"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2638,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions\/2638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxinvestigation.co\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}