ATCS04120 - Advance Tax Certainty Service: Process: Early engagement and clearance applications: How HMRC will manage capacity in the first year of the service
During the initial year of the Advance Tax Certainty Service, interest in the service might exceed HMRC’s available capacity. To maintain high standards and allocate HMRC’s resources effectively during this phase, an Expression of Interest (EOI) and triage process may be implemented to help manage applications.
This process will require those seeking advance certainty to email the Advance Tax Certainty Service, providing key project details such as investment scale, deadlines, and relevant tax areas. EOIs will be assessed based on complexity and urgency using the submitted information. For the first year, HMRC aims to ensure a balanced selection of projects across different tax regimes and sectors, scheduling them throughout the year to maintain service quality and manage workload.
Complexity will be judged by the nature and number of significant transactions that involve novel or unclear tax issues needing interpretation. Applications with several such challenges, or those needing expert advice (whether legal, technical, or sector-specific) will be viewed as more complex.
Immediacy will be measured against factors like upcoming transaction deadlines, legal or regulatory filing requirements, and the potential impact on business continuity or compliance risk. By prioritising time-sensitive cases, HMRC supports timely decision-making and reduces disruptions to business investment.
If interested parties are not initially invited to submit a full application, alternative routes to certainty will be discussed with applicants, which could include postponing the application to a later date. If no other satisfactory alternative is available, the clearance request will be declined.
By applying these guidelines, HMRC can allocate its resources fairly and efficiently, giving priority to cases with the highest level of tax uncertainty and urgency.
After the first year of the Advance Tax Certainty Service, the process set out from section 3.2 onwards will apply.