HMRC has updated the reviewed tax avoidance scheme reference numbers (SRN), confirming that it has withdrawn one of the schemes operated by Montpelier, and which the tax authority has recently decided should not have been targeted for accelerated payment notices (APNs)
The new list, released today, updates the outstanding avoidance scheme reference numbers (SRNs), specifically removing scheme reference number : 64863085.
This list defines the tax avoidance schemes on which users may be charged an upfront tax payment called an accelerated payment notice (APN).
This follows HMRC’s withdrawal of hundreds of APNs earlier this month, which had been incorrectly issued and sent to investors in a particular scheme run by Montpelier.
The APNs were sent to Montpelier clients and demanded upfront payment of tax from hundreds of their clients who had invested in an IR35 tax scheme - also called the IR35 Arrangement, admitting that the notices should not have been issued in the first place.
The issue only came to light at the end of December last year in a letter to the firm from HMRC’s counter-avoidance unit in Newcastle, dated 29 December 2015, in which HMRC stated: ‘Although you notified the scheme under the DOTAS provisions in September 2004, we have since concluded that the scheme was not notifiable under these provisions at that time.’
The revised Reviewed Tax Avoidance Scheme Reference Numbers (SRN): January 2016 list is available on gov.uk, click here