Have you received a letter from HMRC about Temporary Non-Residence?

HMRC has written to a large number of taxpayers who have declared themselves to have been non-resident in at least one tax year since 2018-19.

The letter notifies recipients that HMRC suspects they may have failed to correctly report the income and/or gains they received/made while non-resident.

What you need to do if you have received an HMRC letter about Temporary Non-Residence

You have 60 days from the date of HMRC’s letter to take an appropriate course of action. Failure to do so is likely to lead to HMRC opening a formal compliance check or, potentially, issuing an assessment to automatically bring additional tax into charge. Consequently, we’d recommend that recipients take the following actions:

• Review your tax returns from 2018–19 onwards;
• Identify the periods where you reported yourself to be non-resident;
• Consider the income and gains you received while non-resident;
• Establish whether these income and gains were correctly reported to HMRC; and
• Prepare an appropriate response to HMRC.

Get expert help with an HMRC investigation into Temporary Non-Residence

The temporary non-residence rules are not straightforward and, regrettably, we have seen a number of taxpayers who have made mistakes in this area. If you are in any doubt whatsoever as to the accuracy of your tax affairs, we can undertake a full review of your position. We will be able to provide clarification as to the accuracy of your historic tax affairs and prepare an appropriate response to HMRC.

There are plenty of taxpayers who will have received this letter despite their tax affairs being entirely accurate. If this applies to you, we will prepare a robust response to HMRC, clarifying why we, a regulated firm, are satisfied that your tax affairs are up to date. In doing so, we provide HMRC with considerable comfort that your position has been reviewed thoroughly and accurately, vastly reducing the prospect of further HMRC investigations.

If there has been an error, we will help you to make a full and accurate disclosure to HMRC. We will do so through the most appropriate channel and ensure that you do not pay any unnecessary tax, interest or penalties. We will also address any contentious issues that may require further explanation and ensure that these are fully explained to HMRC, thereby minimising the risk of further HMRC intervention.

Dealing with potential penalties

If the correct amount of tax has not been paid, HMRC is obliged to consider charging financial penalties. Any penalties will be charged as a percentage of the amount of tax that was underpaid and can, therefore, be considerable. Our team of tax dispute specialists are experts in penalty mitigation and will secure the most favourable outcome possible. Many of our clients do not pay any penalty to HMRC, even where their tax affairs are found to have been incorrect.

Contact our tax disputes team today

Contact us today and we can arrange a free, no obligation discussion with a member of our dedicated tax disputes team. We’ll discuss your situation confidentially and discreetly and advise you of the strategy we would adopt if you were to engage us to handle this for you. Our tax disputes team specialises in helping individuals respond to HMRC letters like this and are confident that, no matter your circumstances, we’ll get you a great result.