COM23174 | Assessing: CTSA assessments: revenue determinations: Ascertainable

Ascertainable

The question as to whether the filing date for a return is ascertainable will not normally arise as you will usually review non-filing companies for determination 18 months after the end of the period that you assume or believe to be the Accounting Period (AP). However it will arise sometimes.
Whether, in a particular case, you can ascertain the filing date will depend on the facts. It will be relevant to know:

• the AP the return will cover

• whether or not that AP coincides with a Period of Account of the company and, if it does not, into what period of account the AP falls

• in some cases, the date of service of the notice to deliver

Where the date of service of a notice to deliver is material in ascertaining the filing date for a return you should assume that it was delivered in the ordinary course of the post, four working days after its date of issue.
Where a company has an established tax history and you have no evidence of any subsequent changes to the company’s AP or period of account, you may take the view that the filing date for an outstanding return can be ascertained. You must look for evidence in the COTAX record. It is not enough just to assume that the file contains no evidence.

Example 1

A Ltd, a company with an established tax history, makes up its accounts to 31 December annually. The computer issues a notice to deliver, specifying the period 1 January to 31 December 2019, on 21 January 2020 and records the filing date as 31 December 2020.
In the absence of further information, you will review A Ltd for a Revenue Determination after June 2021 if the company has not delivered a return by then.
You may take the view, in the absence of any conflicting information, that the filing date is ascertainable on the basis of the company’s tax history.

Example 2

B Ltd is incorporated on 15 January 2019. It provides no information about its activities or intended accounting date. The computer creates the first AP from 15 January 2019 to 14 January 2020. It issues a notice to deliver, specifying that period, on 18 February 2020 and records the filing date as 14 January 2021.
In the absence of further information, you will review B Ltd for a Revenue Determination after 14 July 2021 if the company has not delivered a return by then.
The filing date is not ascertainable without additional information from the company.

Example 3

C Ltd is incorporated on 1 September 2018. In the absence of any further information, the computer creates the first AP from 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2019. It issues a notice to deliver, specifying that period, on 21 September 2019 and records the filing date as 31 August 2020.
In October 2019, in response to the notice, C Ltd tells you that it did not start to carry on business until 28 September 2018 and that it will draw up its first accounts to 31 December 2019.
Based on this information:

• the first return to be delivered by C Ltd will be for the dormant period 1 to 27 September 2018

• the filing date for that return will be assumed to be 25 December 2019. (A period of four working days will be assumed to be necessary for the Notice to deliver to be delivered to the company in the ordinary course of the post)

• no other return will be due in response to the Notice to deliver that was issued in September 2019

• the first AP of the company is the period 28 September 2018 to 27 September 2019

• the filing date for the return for that period will be 31 December 2020, provided that an appropriate notice to deliver is served before 1 October 2020

• in practice, we are not likely to insist on a formal return for the dormant period and will ordinarily review C Ltd for determination after June 2021

The filing dates are ascertainable because of the additional information provided by the company.