Changes to time limits for tax claims and assessment

Claims

The new time limits apply from 1 April 2010. It is important to note that this date acts as a 'line in the sand' for the old regime, ie the new time limits apply for all claims submitted after March 2010, rather than it being a case of the old rules applying up to the 2009/10 tax year and the new rules from 2010/11 onwards.

The main changes are summarised in the table below:

Time limit for claims (unless otherwise prescribed by legislation)

 Pre-1 April 2010:New time limits:
Personal Tax5 years and 10 months (ie the 5th anniversary of the 31 January filing deadline for the year concerned).4 years from the end of the tax year.
Corporation Tax6 years from the end of the accounting period.4 years from the end of the accounting period.

This means that the time limits for making claims for affected tax years are as follows:

  • 2003/04 - 31 January 2010
  • 2004/05 - 31 March 2010
  • 2005/06 - 5 April 2010
  • 2006/07 - 5 April 2011.

HMRC Assessments

The new normal time limits for HMRC being able to issue an assessment mirror the above time limits for claims. However, the following extended time limits apply for instances involving careless and/or deliberate behaviour:

Behaviour:

Extended time limit:

Careless6 years from the end of the tax year (or accounting period for companies)
Careless and deliberate20 years from the end of the tax year (or accounting period for companies)