Letter from HMRC did not constitute a pause

The taxpayer claimed child benefit originally when the high income child benefit charge (HICBC) did not exist and neither she nor her husband were high earners.

In April 2021 HMRC wrote to the taxpayer to notify her potential liability to the charge for the years 2015-16 to 2019-20. She called the department a few days later to discuss the matter. On 11 May 2021 HMRC issued discovery assessments and penalties for failure to notify. The taxpayer appealed.

HMRC subsequently agreed that no penalties arose and that the first two years were out of time. The First-tier Tribunal accepted this position.

On the remaining years under appeal the tribunal noted that the taxpayer’s appeal was submitted before 30 June 2021 so HMRC could only raise a discovery assessment on the basis of the taxpayer failing to notify liability if it was a protected assessment (FA 2022...