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Where Taxpayers and Advisers Meet
HMRC Clarifies Guidance on Timeframe for Destroying Post
21/07/2011, by Lee Sharpe, Tax News - HMRC Administration, Practice and Methods
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In our recent Update - Items of Post HMRC WON'T Destroy After Scanning - we pointed out that there was a discrepancy in the guidance on for how long most original items of post would be held before being destroyed.

Original guidance stated that most items of post would be destroyed within 40 days of receipt; more recent guidance had indicated that there would be at least 40 working days before items would be destroyed.

We received confirmation last week that the latter applied, and are please to note that the original guidance at  Changing the Way HMRC Handles Incoming Mail for Enquiries into Customer Returns has now been updated to say:

"If you do not ask for [other] documents to be returned, they will be securely destroyed, together with your covering letter, after 40 working days of receipt."

Update - Items of Post HMRC WON'T Destroy After Scanning highlights the relatively few documents to which this policy will not apply - but please do remember that - for now at least - the policy only relates to correspondence regarding enquiries into tax returns.

About The Author

Lee is TaxationWeb's Articles & News Editor and writes for TaxationWeb. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser with experience of advising individuals and owner-managed businesses over a broad spectrum of tax matters.
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