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HMRC issued a consultation document in July last year, proposing to update Extra-Statutory Concession A19. ESC A19 is a potentially very valuable concession which allows (or broadly requires) HMRC to give up tax where it has taken too long to get around to dealing with a taxpayer's information.

The proposals in the consultation found little favour amongst tax professionals and other taxpayer representatives.  (See for instance HMRC and the Mysterious "Vanishing" Tax Concession) It seems that HMRC has therefore listened to the criticism of its new proposals, since Extra-Statutory Concession A19 Review - HMRC Response (or "Summary of Responses", depending on whether you prefer their News link title or the title of the report itself) indicates that HMRC broadly intends to retain the status quo:

1. HMRC will retain the "reasonable belief" test - that if a taxpayer reasonably believes their tax affairs are in order, they should be entitled to ESC A19.
2. HMRC is considering whether or not they should accept Forms P14 for 2012/13 as 'information' they are obliged to consider in the context of ESC A19 cases. Perhaps tax barrister Keith Gordon will have more to say on this point.
3. HMRC will not be using in-year RTI submissions as information in the context of ESC A19 cases but will consider the final Full Payment Submission of the tax year - of course this potentially brings forwards eligibility for ESC A19 by a full tax year, since in the past the equivalent P14 submissions would invariably have been submitted early in the following tax year, and the ESC A19 time frame normally starts to apply from the end of the tax year in which the relevant information is provided.
4. The "Exceptional Circumstances" which allow tax broadly less than a full tax year old also to be given up, will be retained.
5. Capital Gains Tax will remain eligible, and
6. There will be no time limit imposed on taxpayers claiming ESC A19.

It should be noted, however, that HMRC clearly intends to "keep the matter under review" and it seems likely that there will be future attempts to narrow the scope of the concession. Campaigners such as Keith Gordon and LITRG should, however, be pleased that their efforts have (for now at least) yielded such... concessions from HMRC.

But I spotted no admission that ESC A19 should in the past have been granted without necessarily having received a claim by a taxpayer. That HMRC should have absolved itself of that responsibility alone, is cause for concern.