HMRC Review Process Changes for indirect taxes…. slowly
21 June 2023
Historically, the process for requesting review of a HMRC decision was the same for both direct and indirect taxes. A review request had to be submitted to the officer who made the original decision. They would review any additional information that you provided and, if they upheld their decision, it would then be referred on for an independent review by an officer who had not be involved with the case previously.
A surreptitious amendment to the Appeals reviews and tribunals guidance in October 2022 means that the process is now different for requesting a review of a decision on indirect taxes (VAT and excise).
Following the amendment, to request a review of a decision on indirect taxes, you must submit a review request to HMRC’s Solicitor’s Office and Legal Services (“SOLS”) rather than to the officer who made the original decision. There will now only be one review which will be conducted by an officer independent of the original decision.
Manual reference ARTG4230 refers. Officers from HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service advise us that the transition to the new process which started in October 2022 is still ongoing. We note that template decision letters have been drafted (see manual reference ARTG15000) however we have not yet seen HMRC use these for indirect taxes decisions and HMRC do not yet have a date when the transition will be completed.
HMRC state that the process has been amended because “they were seeing examples of where reviews were being undertaken outside of their [SOLS] offices.” The new process aims to enable SOLS to control the appeal process and, they say, this will provide significant benefits to the customer journey.
Contact details for submission of review requests to SOLS are;
For written correspondence: Solicitor’s Office and Legal Services, HM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1ZT.
Via email: reviews@hmrc.gov.uk.
Aspire Comment
The fact that the review process for indirect and direct taxes is no longer aligned presents a further complexity to the tax system.
It has taken 9 months to date for the process to be amended, and it is still not complete! In the meantime, HMRC say they will accept review requests by either means (direct to decision maker or to SOLS). Rome wasn’t built in a day, but potentially it was a bit faster than this!!