This tax investigation case came to us from a firm of accountants in London. The case involved a company having been liquidated and director’s loan having been offset. HMRC’s view was that the offset was a payment was subject to income tax. This meant that the director was liable to pay income tax and penalties in excess of £300,000. Our team of tax investigation specialists looked at the background of the case and series of events that lead to the liquidation and the steps taken by the insolvency practitioner. In our view, HMRC’s position was incorrect on technical grounds. Our case was put forward to HMRC and was then referred to the specialist policy team within HMRC. After some further exchange of correspondence, HMRC accepted our technical position. The tax charge relating to this set off was withdrawn. After some further negotiations the rest of the points the enquiry were closed with a small amount of tax and penalties to pay.
Our analysis: The case was extremely complex and technical and required detailed knowledge of the legislation and case law. We are grateful to the HMRC officers involved and the tax policy team for their cooperation and professionalism demonstrated in this case.
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