Lee Sharpe looks at the option of asking the tax tribunal to force HMRC to close an enquiry down.
Enquiries can drag on for many months, and even for years. Advisers can find this frustrating – particularly when an enquiry outlasts more than one caseworker and they have to remind the fresh HMRC officer (referred to as an ‘inspector’ in this article) that an issue was already addressed, back in 2015.
I am old enough to remember when self-assessment was first introduced, and we were promised that HMRC inspectors would not be able to drag their feet on enquiries because of powers to get the commissioners (now tribunals) to close an enquiry down. But this power is rarely used in practice. This article will consider how the mechanism works, and why it should perhaps be used more often.
Enquiry closure rules
The relevant legislation (TMA 1970, s
