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Freedom of information vs APN

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    Freedom of information vs APN

    What would happen if one has not received any enquiry letters or discovery for a year and on requesting all records under information act HMRC did not mentioned that year, but later on HMRC includes the year in question into APN?

    #2
    Originally posted by StrengthInNumbers View Post
    What would happen if one has not received any enquiry letters or discovery for a year and on requesting all records under information act HMRC did not mentioned that year, but later on HMRC includes the year in question into APN?
    Tax data for individuals is exempt from Freedom of Information requests.

    If you don't have records and want them, you or your authorise adviser can ask HMRC to prove enquiry notice etc.

    If they cannot, then no APN.

    Cue disputes over whether a letter was posted or received.

    I personally do not believe that HMRC will invent an enquiry notice that is "discovered" after a request. No Civil servant is going to risk his already poorly paid job to annoy somebody he's never met and whose tax bill is not going to solve the £1.7 TRILLION national debt.
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    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by webberg View Post
      Cue disputes over whether a letter was posted or received.
      I personally do not believe that HMRC will invent an enquiry notice that is "discovered" after a request. No Civil servant is going to risk his already poorly paid job to annoy somebody he's never met and whose tax bill is not going to solve the £1.7 TRILLION national debt.
      I look at this a bit differently.

      While I completely agree about the "No Civil servant..." comment above, I think that if the motivator is not "to annoy sombody" but rather "hit a performance target a potential bonus depends on", it is not beyond the imagination.
      In particular if the hierarchy implicitly encourages actions and behaviours "maximizing the amount of tax collected", and the risk is minimal.
      After all, isn't it, in this case, HMRC's word against the taxpayer's word?

      But then again, people say I am a bit cynical
      Last edited by DotasScandal; 6 July 2015, 22:43.
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        #4
        In the rush to get APNs out, there are bound to be mistakes and there may be some officers taking "shortcuts" and not rigorously checking that the conditions are met.

        Someone contacted me this week who had been sent an APN quoting a DOTAS SRN. Not only had this person not been in this scheme, they had never used a DOTAS scheme.

        Comment


          #5
          I agree with the comment by Dotasscandal and the argument for "No Civil servant..." . There is no accoutability on HMRC if it gets questioned in Court they say it is an administrative error and none of the civil servants are affected. There is no resources for an individual to go after a civil servant and prove it was deliberate . HMRC is always on the winning side ......

          Comment


            #6
            I think making a subject access request under the provision of the data protection act would be a better idea?

            Comment


              #7
              I made a request using the online form and what I have got in not in agreement what SO team has been telling me. SO team has been on about more years the what I got back from my request.

              Have to wait and see if and when APN gets in. But if it is not in system it should be in tomorrow

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