ATCS04140 - Advance Tax Certainty Service: Process: Early engagement and clearance applications: Requesting an early engagement meeting
Prior to formal clearance application, customers should request an early engagement meeting by contacting the Advance Tax Certainty Service mailbox. Where customers have an existing Customer Compliance Manager (CCM) or temporary Customer Compliance Manager (tCCM) point of contact, they should be copied into the request.
Mid-sized businesses that do not have an existing tCCM and that are eligible to participate in the Advance Tax Certainty Service will have a tCCM assigned for the duration of the process once an eligible formal clearance application has been made.
Request emails should indicate:
- the nature of the project
- the anticipated project expenditure (£) and likely duration
- any critical commercial deadlines impacting the date by which the custom requires a clearance
- the likely tax issues on which the customer is seeking certainty and an indication of materiality (e.g. Capital Allowances - qualifying expenditure - circa £100m)
- any eligibility queries they might have
- signed email protocol form
Early engagement meetings are key to customers understanding what the clearances process can offer them within desired timeframes. Any uncertainties prior to submitting a formal clearance application may also be addressed, enabling efficient use of the process and reducing unnecessary costs.
HMRC will aim for early engagement meetings to take place within 10 working days of contact being made.
Early engagement discussion areas
This facility will allow customers to have an initial conversation with HMRC on aspects of their proposed application, such as:
- their eligibility for the process in terms of the qualifying threshold and exclusion criteria
- whether certainty for the clearance subject matter is already covered by an existing process (e.g. another statutory process) that takes priority
- whether the clearance subject matter is within the scope of taxes or issues covered by the process
- the feasibility and timing for complex or time-critical clearances
- the timing of any application in relation to whether enough facts will be available to support a clearance
- the degree of change anticipated to facts and circumstances within the clearance application
- supporting facts and evidence HMRC anticipate will be required in order to issue a clearance
- potential synergies or links with other processes
- other areas that HMRC consider the clearance should cover on the same facts
- any issues with service capacity versus demand
- secure data transmission and permissions
Who should attend an early engagement meeting?
HMRC recommend that representatives from the customer with knowledge of the project (tax or finance lead) attend the meeting, and their agent if one is to be used for the process. Depending on the nature of the query, they may be joined by one or more of the following in the meeting:
- a clearance team subject matter expert, based on the nature of the prospective clearance to be discussed
- a CCM, tCCM or a tax or subject matter specialist
- a clearance team administrator to provide administrative support
The advice given during this meeting will be summarised. Any actions recommended to the customer regarding preparing their clearance application will be shared in writing.