S9A enquiry reminders

[Milbo]

HMRC supposedly issued S9A enquiry letters to both the client and ourselves as agents in January 2012, neither of which were received.

In late April 2012, we both received reminders enclosing copies of the original letters which were correctly addressed.

Is there any published HMRC procedure for following up S9A enquiry letters where replies have not been received? A three month delay brings into question whether the initial letters were actually issued.

Many thanks,

Mark

[mullet]

Notices issued by HMRC to the last notified address are deemed to have been served unless there is clear evidence to the contrary (for instance being returned undelivered by Royal Mail). To be honest it's a bit late for you to be challenging the validity of the original S9A notice. A 3 month delay shouldn't happen, but is not unusual. If you went to appeal (you can't appeal the S9A notice, only a Sch 36 information notice or a S28 closure notice) HMRC would be able to produce computer records showing when certain actions were taken which would probably support their claimed actions.

[Milbo]

Thanks Mullet.

This is an ongoing case and we have already been to Dispute Resolution where no such evidence has been provided. If HMRC had been able to provide evidence of issue of the notice then we would have accepted same.

That there is no such evidence, that the original notices were correctly addressed and neither have been returned by Royal Mail, puts doubt on whether the notice was actually issued in January.

Does anyone know the HMRC timescale to issue reminders when a reply has not been received? I would expect a list to be generated within 30 days or so but that is purely a guess!

[mullet]

I suspect that HMRC aim to follow up once 30 days have passed, but whether they manage to do so is another matter.