Newsletter Spring 2013

Forwarding address

A VAT-registered individual ceased trading and moved to Spain. Before he left, HMRC had been trying to check whether he had paid the right amount of VAT, but he was hard to get hold of. In the end, they sent assessments to his last known UK address. The paperwork didn’t reach him until after the time limit had expired for HMRC to demand back tax, so he argued that they had lost their chance.

The Tribunal didn’t accept this. A VAT-registered trader is required to notify HMRC of a change of address, and he hadn’t done so. In the absence of such a notification, HMRC had done what the law required within the time limit, and the assessments stood.

The taxman may be the last person you want to send a change of address note to, but if you don’t, they’ll probably catch up with you in the end.