I agree with Charlie Carne but I'd be adding a little on for the fact it is likely to be a one off. Get the information and the £300 fee paid up front and file it. Good money and then he walks away. Win - win.
We recently submitted such a claim by amending the original tax return as that seemed to be what was required. It was rejected by HMRC who then decided their rejection was also wrong. A very helpful HMRC Inspector (who knew they existed?) talked me through how to do the claim so that it was accepted. He even followed it up and ensured the refund was paid within a few weeks. Amazing.
If you Google s48 TCGA 1992 that gives you the legal basis but s48 of TMA 1970 also applies and that describes the format needed for the claim. Finally if you look at CG14933 and SACM3015 in the HMRC manuals then you have the full picture. Good luck.
Many years ago we had an incident that still haunts me.
I had called at a client's premises to pick up their records on a Friday afternoon en route home from another client. I popped the records in the boot of the car and headed home. Sadly, I forgot they were there and on the Saturday, as a family, we went to a concert in Liverpool with the records still in the boot.
My wife and I exited the concert with three small children in tow to be faced with a complete lack of car in the spot where we had left it. The (very professional) thieves had stolen the car without leaving any trace and had taken the client's records too (and my daugher's favourite doll, Timmy, which she still misses despite being 30 now).
I had a very awkward phonecall to make on the Monday morning!
The client was completely fine - any issues now arising would be entirely our fault. We had computerised payroll records and ordered replacement bank statements and managed without pretty well anything else. The accounts looked very similar to the previous year and HMRC never raised an eyebrow. Phew!
I had a couple of sleepless nights but in the end it was not a major crisis.
Some years ago we had a similar issue and it turned out that HMRC's system had a problem with employees that had left in the year and had then been re-employed in the same year. This was some time ago so I would have hoped that HMRC would have sorted it out by now though!
Tell HMRC to go forth and multiply! I have a policy of not helping HMRC fix the problems with their shoddy systems. Firstly, they won't fix it if we help them to side step the problem. Secondly, are HMRC willing to fiddle their own systems to assist us when there is an obvious error? The answer is no! HMRC won't get the VAT due until they sort it out and it will be their own fault.
We had one just like this recently. The business is heavily dependent on the air travel industry, badly hit by Covid and behind in their tax payments. I read all the details of the security deposit demand online as I had not come across this before and advised the client that there was little I could do to help. The client eventually rang HMRC and it was sorted out in a few minutes with an agreement to pay the taxes due over a period of time. The deposit would have killed off the business so this was a good result.
I believe that somebaody in HMRC has just come across this and has decided it is a good method to apply pressure to taxpayers who ignore other demands. It certainly works but it is a rather brutal mechanism.
We applied for exception for a client back in March and have heard nothing since. Difficult to chase up with HMRC as the client has no VAT number (obviously) and we therefore have no 64-8 in place.
Fair enough. It is always difficult to know how much information to give. Some of it seems superfluous to the queston being asked but I guess responders don't know that without the information! I am however grateful for the responses.
My answers
I agree with Charlie Carne but I'd be adding a little on for the fact it is likely to be a one off. Get the information and the £300 fee paid up front and file it. Good money and then he walks away. Win - win.
We recently submitted such a claim by amending the original tax return as that seemed to be what was required. It was rejected by HMRC who then decided their rejection was also wrong. A very helpful HMRC Inspector (who knew they existed?) talked me through how to do the claim so that it was accepted. He even followed it up and ensured the refund was paid within a few weeks. Amazing.
If you Google s48 TCGA 1992 that gives you the legal basis but s48 of TMA 1970 also applies and that describes the format needed for the claim. Finally if you look at CG14933 and SACM3015 in the HMRC manuals then you have the full picture. Good luck.
Many years ago we had an incident that still haunts me.
I had called at a client's premises to pick up their records on a Friday afternoon en route home from another client. I popped the records in the boot of the car and headed home. Sadly, I forgot they were there and on the Saturday, as a family, we went to a concert in Liverpool with the records still in the boot.
My wife and I exited the concert with three small children in tow to be faced with a complete lack of car in the spot where we had left it. The (very professional) thieves had stolen the car without leaving any trace and had taken the client's records too (and my daugher's favourite doll, Timmy, which she still misses despite being 30 now).
I had a very awkward phonecall to make on the Monday morning!
The client was completely fine - any issues now arising would be entirely our fault. We had computerised payroll records and ordered replacement bank statements and managed without pretty well anything else. The accounts looked very similar to the previous year and HMRC never raised an eyebrow. Phew!
I had a couple of sleepless nights but in the end it was not a major crisis.
Some years ago we had a similar issue and it turned out that HMRC's system had a problem with employees that had left in the year and had then been re-employed in the same year. This was some time ago so I would have hoped that HMRC would have sorted it out by now though!
Tell HMRC to go forth and multiply! I have a policy of not helping HMRC fix the problems with their shoddy systems. Firstly, they won't fix it if we help them to side step the problem. Secondly, are HMRC willing to fiddle their own systems to assist us when there is an obvious error? The answer is no! HMRC won't get the VAT due until they sort it out and it will be their own fault.
Thanks - that is really helpful.
We had one just like this recently. The business is heavily dependent on the air travel industry, badly hit by Covid and behind in their tax payments. I read all the details of the security deposit demand online as I had not come across this before and advised the client that there was little I could do to help. The client eventually rang HMRC and it was sorted out in a few minutes with an agreement to pay the taxes due over a period of time. The deposit would have killed off the business so this was a good result.
I believe that somebaody in HMRC has just come across this and has decided it is a good method to apply pressure to taxpayers who ignore other demands. It certainly works but it is a rather brutal mechanism.
We applied for exception for a client back in March and have heard nothing since. Difficult to chase up with HMRC as the client has no VAT number (obviously) and we therefore have no 64-8 in place.
Fair enough. It is always difficult to know how much information to give. Some of it seems superfluous to the queston being asked but I guess responders don't know that without the information! I am however grateful for the responses.
Maybe the advisor wasn't asked. Maybe the spouse is not a wife and maybe the disposal is not a sale. Careful with your assumptions.