The Tax Break | Tooth v HMRC: what now for discovery assessments in tax investigations?

The latest in our series of tax podcasts focuses on an important recent Supreme Court decision (Raymond Tooth v HMRC) and what it means for discovery assessments in direct tax.

Show Notes

Discovery assessments are issued by HMRC inspectors to charge individuals and companies for lost tax. They have generated a huge volume of caselaw and the latest case looked at:

1) What constitutes a deliberate inaccuracy by the taxpayer? This matters because a deliberate loss of tax gives HMRC much longer to raise a discovery assessment. Broadly, the Supreme Court decided that only an intention to mislead counts and where an inaccurate entry is explained elsewhere in the document (a so called white space disclosure), there won't have been a deliberate inaccuracy.

2) Can a discovery assessment become stale if HMRC don't act quickly enough? The Supreme Court held not: despite a recent trend in the cases supporting this type of argument, the Supreme Court decided that, provided the statutory time limits are complied with, there is no additional requirement to act promptly. 

What is Osborne Clarke.TV Podcasts?

When disruption is the norm and you’re surrounded by complexity, you need clarity. Osborne Clarke's straight-talking legal experts will give you the insights and advice you need to get the right result.

Osborne Clarke is an international legal practice with over 270 Partners and more than 900 lawyers in 26 locations*. We help clients tackle the issues they’re facing today, and prepare for the ones they will face tomorrow.

*Services in India are provided by a relationship firm