S and U Patel v HMRC

In S and U Patel v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 185 (TC) (5 April 2018) the FTT found that HMRC could not open an enquiry into a return submitted voluntarily.

Mr and Mrs Patel had submitted unsolicited paper returns and HMRC had opened enquiries into those returns. The issue was the meaning of the phrase ‘a return under s 8’ as TMA 1970 s 9A permits HMRC to enquire into ‘a return under s 8’.

The FTT found that ‘“a return under section 8” is a return which the taxpayer has been “required by a notice given to him by an officer of the Board to make and deliver to the officer”’. In the phrase ‘the taxpayer may be required by a notice’ the use of the word ‘may’ simply meant that HMRC did not have to issue a notice if for instance an individual’s full tax...