In Easinghall v HMRC [2016] UKUT 105 (1 March 2016) the UT found that a letter from HMRC should be read as cancelling a discovery assessment so that the enquiry into the relevant return should be closed.
HMRC had begun an enquiry into the return submitted by Easinghall for 2010/11. The officer (the ‘first officer’) who conducted the enquiry had received information suggesting that Easinghall had not recorded all its purchases and had concluded that it was likely to have failed to record the corresponding sales. He had issued a closure notice amending Easinghall's return accordingly. He had also issued a discovery assessment for 2011/12 on the basis that there had been a similar underdeclaration. Easinghall had appealed against the assessment.
On review of the appeal another officer (the ‘second officer’) had decided to withdraw the assessment. Shortly afterwards the first officer had written...
