HMRC retracts Montpelier APNs

The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) has reported that HMRC has been forced to retract 2,000 accelerated payment notices (APNs) it sent to users of the Isle of Man ‘Montpelier’ tax planning scheme. The APNs in question were sent in March 2015, mainly to computer industry contractors that used the IR35 Manx Partnership, marketed by Montpelier.

STEP explains that the scheme was notified to HMRC at the time it was marketed in 2004, although it later emerged that notification was not necessary under the DOTAS rules in force at the time. In its withdrawal notice to the taxpayers concerned, HMRC admitted that the fact that the scheme was not notifiable under DOTAS meant that it did not meet the statutory criteria for issue of an APN in 2015, and apologised for the inconvenience caused. However, as the notices give taxpayers 90 days to pay the amount that HMRC demands with no right to appeal, many taxpayers have already paid. They are reportedly seeking to recover the amounts without waiting until the dispute is resolved at tribunal.