EM6402A | Contract settlements: acceptance: authorisation levels - WMBC Mid-Sized Businesses

From HM Revenue & Customs · Enquiry Manual

The guidance about contract settlements at EM6000+ only relates to direct tax. You must never include VAT or VAT penalties in a contract settlement.

All letters of offer and acceptance of the offer must be authorised by either your Manager or another Authorising Officer.

You must always ensure that a full audit trail of contract authorisations for both the offer and acceptance is recorded digitally, for example in Caseflow, and within any paper file.

Offers of £500,000 or more must be authorised by following the guidance in the table below.

Authorisation - settlements of £500,000 or more

Table shown as recovered text

MSB work area Authorisation limits (total value of offer) Authorised by MSB Complex Evasion Programme (CEP) team: CEP Direct Taxes (CT/IT) and CEP Employer Duties Up to £1million MSB Evasion G6 MSB Complex Evasion Programme (CEP) team: CEP Direct Taxes (CT/IT) and CEP Employer Duties Over £1million A second MSB Evasion G6 MSB Direct Taxes team (not CEP) Over £1million G6 Direct Tax manager or functional lead MSB Employer Duties team (not CEP) 1) The total liabilities amount to £1 million or more; 2) The 'voluntary' grossed up settle amounts to £1 million or more; 3) The combined totals of both of the above which amount to £1 million or more; 4) A penalty only offer where the underlying duties amount to £1 million or more; 5) An instalment arrangement will exceed 3 years; 6) The offer differs from the expected amount to the extent that it cannot be accepted locally For all of 1) to 6) - MSB ED Grade 7 approval through mailbox

For details about who to contact for this higher level of authorisation, see the Complex Evasion Programme (CEP) webpage for a list of MSB Evasions Grade 6’s.