CH52100 - Assessing Time Limits: Normal time limits: What are the normal time limits

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp normal time limit for making an assessment to recover tax that has been

  • under-assessed or under-declared, or
  • over-repaid or paid or credited

is 4 years from the end of the relevant tax period, see CH51700.

Within this 4-year time limit, there are other time limits that must be considered for all VAT and other indirect taxes assessments. For more information about

  • VAT tax assessments, see CH51820
  • penalty, interest and default surcharge assessments, see CH51840
  • assessments to recover excessive VAT repayments or VAT credits, see CH51860 and CH51880
  • insurance premium tax, aggregates levy, climate change levy and landfill tax assessments, see CH51920
  • insurance premium tax, aggregates levy, climate change levy and landfill tax penalty and interest assessments, see CH51940
  • insurance premium tax, aggregates levy, climate change levy and landfill tax assessments to recover over-claimed credits, see CH51960
  • excise duty limitations, see CH51980.

For details of the transitional provisions that apply to

  • VAT assessments made in the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 or under-declared, see CH51520
  • direct taxes, see CH51550
  • assessments for insurance premium tax, aggregates levy, climate change levy and landfill tax in the period from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011, see CH51570.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýappre are some exceptions to the normal time limit. For example

  1. Where a person has been required to file a Self Assessment tax return but has failed to do so, the period in which we may make an HMRC determination in the absence of that return is 3 years beginning with the statutory filing date for the return.

Frank receives a notice requiring him to make an SA return for the tax year 2012-13. If Frank does not send us a completed return we can make an HMRC determination of the tax on or before 30 January 2017.

  1. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp period in which we may make an assessment to withdraw excessive Enterprise Investment Scheme relief is 6 years from the end of the relevant tax year.

You can find details of the time limits that apply for each type of assessment in the tables at CH56000+. You should check the appropriate table before making your assessment.