In The personal representative of M Wood (deceased) v HMRC [2016] UKUT 346 (25 July 2016) the UT found that the issue of a discovery assessment under an extended deadline did not amount to a criminal charge so that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) art 6 (right to a fair trial) was not in play.
In June 2010 the late Mr Wood had admitted to under-declarations of income with a view to taking advantage of an HMRC ‘disclosure opportunity’ but he had failed to provide HMRC with a disclosure report. HMRC had issued discovery assessments against which Mr Wood had appealed. He had died a month after lodging his appeal.
The issue was whether the assessments against the late Mr Wood made under the extended time limit of 20 years set out in TMA 1970 s 36(1A)(a) (which applies in case...
