HMRC’s powers, penalties and safeguards under review

On 15 February HMRC published a call for evidence on its enquiry and assessment powers penalties and safeguards (tinyurl.com/hmrccallevadmin).

HMRC has said it is keen to ‘provide greater certainty and consistency bolster compliance and ultimately help support trust in the tax system’ and believes that this can be attained in part by reforming their enquiry and assessment powers penalties and safeguards.

How did we get here?

This wide-ranging consultation comes as the latest in a series of tax administration reviews looking at HMRC’s powers penalties and safeguards that can be traced back over a period of nearly 20 years.

Between 2005 and 2012 HMRC undertook a review of its powers deterrents and safeguards known at the time simply as the ‘powers review’ and developed a set of objectives and design principles aimed at...