VAT disclosure was prompted

HMRC contacted the taxpayer organisation on 30 March 2010 to arrange a visit to its UK accountants to review a VAT repayment claim of £150 000 relating to the December 2009 return.

A day before the scheduled visit the accountants contacted the Revenue to alert the officer to potential errors and ask for the meeting to be rearranged. The accountants had identified errors on three VAT returns and underpayments of £699 822 when year-end accounts were being completed.

The issue was whether the disclosures were “prompted” as the result of an intended compliance visit or “unprompted” and disclosed without any reason to know the taxman had discovered or would discover the errors.

The taxpayer argued that work on the accounts had led to mistakes being identified rather than additional checking process carried out as a result of the intended visit.

The minimum penalty for a...