This week's opinion: 7 May 2020

Here is a question. What legislation was being discussed in Investec v CRC (tinyurl.com/judinvapr) when the judge described HMRC’s approach to the law as ‘to put it kindly, work in progress’? Was it some obscure subclause in the complex legislation dealing with corporate debt? No. It was a case dealing with closure notices under self assessment – a key building block of tax administration which has been with us for more than 20 years. The fact there can still be uncertainty about such a fundamental issue is further evidence of something many of us have been saying for some time: we need a thorough overhaul of the taxes management provisions. 

HMRC had started that work though the launch of the HMRC Powers and Safeguards Evaluation Forum and some meetings did take place. However, work has been put on hold because of the need to devote resources to the Covid-19 crisis. This is understandable in the short term, but I fervently hope that work can recommence as soon as possible. Taxpayers need to have a clear view of their rights and obligations – equally HMRC needs to have the ability to assess and collect the taxes that parliament has imposed. It cannot be right that, as recent judgments in the courts and tribunals have shown all too often, there remain significant uncertainties about basic aspects of how the tax system is administered. 

There will always be tax disputes although, as Harriet Brown’s article on page 8 points out, these may get stuck in the system at the moment. But these should be on matters of substance, not on administrative questions which should have been cleared up years ago.