In The Queen on the application of Archer v HMRC [2017] EWCA Civ 1962 (30 November 2017) the Court of Appeal found that an assessment which did not comply with the requirements of TMA 1970 s 28A was nonetheless validated by s 114.
Mr Archer had claimed losses and consequential tax relief in relation to two well-known tax mitigation schemes: RDS and SHIPS. HMRC had opened enquiries into the relevant returns and the Court of Appeal had subsequently found that neither scheme worked.
HMRC claimed that Mr Archer owed it a debt under TMA 1970 s 59B (5) which applied to the amount of tax payable as a result of amendments to the returns effected by closure notices (s 28A). Mr Archer denied the existence of a debt because the closure notices were invalid.
The first issue was whether the closure notices complied with s 28A(2)(b) which...
