ANNEX 1:: MINOR CHANGES IN THE LAW MADE BY THE BILL This change is in taxpayers’ favour in principle. But it is expected to have no practical effect as it is in line with current practice.
Change 5: References to “officer of Revenue and Customs”: sections 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 403, 459, 508, 538, 542, 551, 554, 557, 558, 561, 692, 695, 696, 697, 698, 703, 706, 707, 739, 743, 748, 751, 912, 915, 916, 931, 944 and 970, Schedule 1 (sections 256A and 256B of TCGA and section 102 of FA 2004) and Schedule 2Part 15 (deduction by deposit-takers: discretionary or accumulation settlements)
This change replaces references to “the Board of Inland Revenue” (and one reference to “the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs”) in the source legislation with references to “an officer of Revenue and Customs”.
References in the source legislation to “the Board of Inland Revenue” are treated by section 50(1) of CRCA as references to “the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs”. The rest of this note accordingly refers to the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (the Commissioners) rather than to the Board of Inland Revenue.
The provisions affected by this change will in future authorise or require things to be done by or in relation to an officer of Revenue and Customs rather than by or in relation to the Commissioners. This reflects the way in which HMRC is organised and operates in practice. Section 13 of CRCA allows nearly all functions conferred on the Commissioners to be exercised by any officer. All of the functions affected by this change, which are in the main concerned with administrative processes, are in fact exercised by officers of the Commissioners, and the Commissioners themselves are not personally involved in their exercise.
Where the source legislation provides for a claim or election to be made to the Commissioners, this Act does not expressly state to whom such a claim or election is to be made. Where a return has been issued, section 42(2) of TMA requires the claim to be made in the return if possible and the return must be made to the officer who issued it. Similarly, where the claim is made outside a return, paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 1A to TMA requires the claim to be made to an officer.
Where a claim was formerly to the Commissioners, this change has a further consequence. Under section 46C of TMA (claims in a return) and paragraph 10 of Schedule 1A to TMA (claims outside a return), appeals concerning such claims are to the Special Commissioners. This contrasts with the rules in sections 31B to 31D of TMA under which, in most cases, a taxpayer may appeal to the General Commissioners or elect under section 31D to appeal to the Special Commissioners. The abolition of the requirement that a claim must be made to the Commissioners means that the rules in sections 31B to 31D will generally apply to appeals affected by this change. But in a few cases, especially where the issue is likely to be complex, appeals remain reserved to the Special Commissioners.
This Act also removes any unnecessary references to any claim or election being in a form specified by the Commissioners. In relation to a claim or election in a return section 113 of TMA provides that the return shall be in such form as the Commissioners prescribe. Paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 1A to TMA makes parallel provision in relation to claims and elections made outside returns.
Section 113 of, and Schedule 1A to, TMA do not apply to the form of certificates, notices etc. Where the source legislation provides that the Commissioners determine the form of such documents, this Act retains that approach, even though section 13 of CRCA means the work can be, and is, done by officers in practice. This is in order to indicate that such material is prescribed for HMRC as a whole.
Each provision affected by the conversion or omission of references to the Commissioners will be identified in the Table of Origins by a cross-reference to this change.
In ITEPA and ITTOIA references to “an inspector” in the source legislation which were converted to “the Inland Revenue” (meaning any officer) were also identified as a change. But references to an inspector are treated by section 50(2) of CRCA as references to an officer of Revenue and Customs. It follows that it is no longer appropriate to identify the conversion of such references as a change.