Time limits on repayments to be cut by the Finance Act
An obscure set of rule changes buried in the Finance Bill reduces the time periods in which taxpayers may make repayment claims and late self-assessment submissions. Schedule 39 of the Bill makes the following amendments:
l The time limit for a taxpayer to supersede an HMRC tax determination by submitting their own self-assessment is to be reduced from five to three years.
l The time limit for taxpayer claims of error or mistake after their returns have been processed is to be reduced from five years after the 31 January following the end of the relevant year of assessment to four years after the end of the year of assessment itself. The same new limit is applied to repayment claims where there was no self-assessment process.
l The time limit for submitting claims of error or mistake in partnership returns is to be reduced from six years after the 31 January following the end of the relevant year of assessment to four years after the end of the year of assessment itself (or the year of assessment in which the relevant period ends).
l Where income is received after the year for which it is assessable, the time limit to amend the relevant return is to be reduced from six years to four years after the end of the year of assessment.