TC09631 - [2025] UKFTT 01072 (TC)

It is clear that the Appellant is, in principle, liable for the HICBC. Her ANI for the relevant years was above the £50,000 threshold. She is the higher earner in the household. She had not declared her liability to the HICBC in a tax return. Having carried out the checks described above, Officer Savory was able to determine that the HICBC was due and had therefore discovered that there was an amount of income tax which ought to have been assessed in the relevant years that had not been assessed.

We find that the Officer made a valid discovery of a loss of tax.

In her grounds of appeal, Ms Zefi says she was not informed about the possibility of appealing the assessment in 2021 and that she was told, when she contacted HMRC that all cases were on hold. She believed that the matter was closed given the fact that she heard nothing between May 2021 and January 2023. She also believed that she was being treated less favourably than those who had appealed at the time (in 2021) as they were not being pursued under the discovery assessment procedure because of Wilkes.

Ms Zefi could not have appealed in 2021 because she had not been issued with assessments at that time. The delay in making the assessments arose because HMRC was awaiting the outcome of Wilkes. It was only those who had already been assessed and who appealed by the June 2021 deadline who could take advantage of the original wording of section 29 TMA which meant that HMRC was unable to issued discovery assessments to them.

As assessments were not issued to the Appellant until January 2023, Wilkes has no application to her case and the retrospectively amended section 29 applies. Accordingly, HMRC are entitled to assess her under the discovery assessment provisions, subject to the time limit issue discussed below.