Annex 1: Minor changes in the law Change 5: References to “officer of Revenue and Customs” and “Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs”: sections 37, 199, 472 to 478, 480, 481, 484 to 488, 495, 504, 507, 510, 511, 514, 525, 527, 533, 540, 545, 546, 561, 565, 571 to 578, 582, 586, 587, 592, 658, 670, 671, 710, 713, 740, 743 to 746 and 977
This change replaces references to the “Board of Inland Revenue” in the source legislation with references to “an officer of Revenue and Customs” or “Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs”.
It brings the income and corporation tax codes back into line.
References in the source legislation to the “Commissioners of Inland Revenue (however expressed)” 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 HMRC (“the Commissioners”) rather than to the Board of Inland Revenue.
The provisions affected by this change 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 Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs 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 notice to deliver a corporation tax return has been issued, paragraphs 57 and 58 of Schedule 18 to FA 1998 require the claim to be made in the return or by amendment of the return if possible. A return must be made to the officer who issued it. A notice amending a return must be made to an officer. Similarly, where the claim is made outside a return or amendment, paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 1A to TMA requires the claim to be made to an officer.
This change has no implications for the amount of tax due, who pays it or when. It affects (in principle and in practice) only administrative matters.