Accelerated payment notice challenge has failed

The high court has found in favour of the taxman in a case brought against them by a number of users of various schemes. The users claimed that the Accelerated Payment Notices that they received from HM Revenue and Customs were illegal on five separate counts, but the High Court dismissed all five when making a judgement on the matter last week.

Although there may well be an appeal launched by those who brought the claim, HMRC is now able to go into what they are describing as ‘full collection mode’ and will be issuing more APNs now that they have the go-ahead from the court ruling. As many as 64,000 notices are due to be sent out by the end of 2016, which the department estimates will net them a total of £5.5 billion by March 2020.

One of the most important aspects to the ruling, as far as HMRC are concerned at least, is that it shows that those who are under investigation will no longer be allowed to hold on to the money in question whilst the matter is looked into. Although the ruling is by no means a definitive end to the challenge levelled at the department, for the time being it will be accepted as such and the department will go ahead with their plans to expand their reach.

However, those who might be considering launching an appeal will not only be frustrated by the ruling, but may also be facing another setback as it has been revealed that APNs have generated three times more than they were forecast to since their introduction in July 2014. This means that the department will defend them vigorously, in order to protect the significant revenue that they could generate.

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Anyone who thinks that they might be affected by this ruling should consider getting some expert advice, and our friendly team are always on hand to ensure that you have the best and most up-to-date information possible. Call us today on 01442 275789 or email newbusiness@sjdaccountancy.com for details of how we could help you.

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