HMRC Disputes

At Independent Tax we continue to see clients who participated in Montpelier Tax Consultants’ investments – particularly the Pendulum and Alpha-Beta products – and who are now being investigated by HMRC for “tax fraud” under the Contractual Disclosure Facility or where HMRC are now seeking to charge significant financial penalties.

We believe HMRC’s investigations into the returns of members of these particular investments have been extremely heavy handed.

In particular, at least in some cases, HMRC may well have misused or abused their Code of Practice 9 process through the making of unsubstantiated and unreasonable allegations of fraudulent tax behaviour by the member under investigation.

We have assisted a number of clients to conclude these challenges with HMRC and, in particular, to challenge HMRC’s claim that fraud, or suspected fraud, exists.  This is a vital challenge as it affects both the number of “back” years of tax that HMRC can seek to recover and also the size of any penalties HMRC might seek to take.

The impact of such an allegation by HMRC on the investors concerned can be severe. In such cases, HMRC can be held to account for this maladministration through their complaints process. Not only can this secure any financial redress eventually due, doing this now may well help ensure that HMRC continues any investigation in a fair and proportionate way.

If HMRC might have adversely treated you in this way, Independent Tax are now working with the former Head of HMRC’s Adjudicator’s Office who specialises in advising on HMRC maladministration and complaints.

As well as assisting you in successfully concluding any such challenge or investigation by HMRC, we are also in a position to advise you on how to make the best use of HMRC’s complaints process in a robust but proportionate way.