EM7552 - Partnerships: enquiries: giving notice of intention to enquire
S12AC
To enquire into a partnership return, an officer must give notice of their intention to enquire within the statutory time limits.
There is no prescribed format to an enquiry notice, it simply needs to put the customer on notice that we intend to enquire into the return. However, the standard letters (available on SEEs) should be used.
Who to give notice to
Notice of intention to enquire into a partnership return must be given to the nominated partner or where appropriate, their successor. You may wish to send a copy of the notice to the agent, but it’s important that the actual notice of intention to enquire is given to the nominated partner.
In addition, it’s also good practice to send a letter to each partner to make them aware of the ongoing enquiry into the partnership return. The notification to the partners is not a statutory requirement, but it is good customer service.
Combined notices
When writing to the nominated partner, you should not combine a
notice of enquiry into the partnership return with a notice of enquiry into the
partner’s personal return. Separate notices should be sent. This is
because under s.12AC we are addressing the nominated partner in their capacity
as a representative of the partnership, whereas where we are giving a notice of
enquiry into the nominated partners personal return under s.9A we are dealing
with their personal tax affairs.
Receipt of notice and evidence
Your notice must be received by the customer before the time limit.
It is important that you retain evidence that the enquiry notice has been posted, just in case the customer challenges receipt of it. For all cases, it is best practice to note on Caseflow/SA the date that the notice left the office. You should also contact the nominated partner and/or agent by telephone to inform them that the notice is on the way. Notes of the calls should be made and retained. If you need written authorisation from your manager for the use of first-class post or tracked delivery, a copy of the authority should be uploaded to Caseflow and/or retained.
This list of evidence is not intended to be exhaustive, and you should keep any further evidence that you have of the notice being sent. We should not wait until too near to the end of the time allowed for giving notice of intention to enquire into the partnership return to send the notice. In cases where it is unavoidable that the notice is sent within one week of the last date for enquiring into the return, you should, in addition to retaining the evidence detailed above, ensure that the notice is sent via tracked delivery and evidence of this is retained.
Unless the contrary is proved, the notice is taken to be delivered as it would have been through the ordinary course of post. Royal Mail’s published position is that second class post takes up to 3 working days to be delivered and first-class post takes 1 working day. Working days include Saturdays but not Sundays or Bank Holidays. You should consider how long the post takes to leave the office when considering this. If you are ever in doubt as to whether a notice will be sent in time using Royal Mail, send it via tracked delivery instead so we have proof of receipt.
This is only a guide, and each case will need to be decided on their own facts.
Single enquiry
S12AC(3)
A return, amendment or claim can only be enquired into once.
Some enquiries into returns will be completed before the expiry of the enquiry period. But even where an enquiry is completed within the enquiry period, it will not be possible to open another enquiry into the same return.
If the return is amended after we the enquiry is completed, an enquiry could be opened into that amendment. The enquiry would be limited to checking the amendment or matters affected by the amendment.
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