Nudge letters cause confusion

Some 10 000 individuals who had declared interest on their 2014-15 self-assessment tax returns received a nudge letter from HMRC at Christmas.

The letters – which were not copied to tax agents – asked people to look again at the interest figures shown on their return to check that the declaration was correct.

However there was no indication of any information held by HMRC or what might have been overlooked. Further although a reference to penalties featured in the letter there was no information on what these could be if someone had inadvertently – or deliberately – done something wrong.

In discussions with HMRC about the letters Mike Down tax investigations partner at RSM said tax staff in several of the firm’s offices had been told that the Revenue had no information to suggest that the recipients had missed anything off their returns and...