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Liaison: Internal Links - Self Assessment (SA)
TC customers who are also SA taxpayers will need to refer to the figure of income from their SA return when reporting their actual income for TC purposes. If necessary an estimate of income can be reported for Tax Credit purposes but this must be corrected at a later stage.
A statutory link exists between the enquiry windows for Self Assessment (SA) and Tax Credits (TC) but there is no such link for TC examinations.
Example X
Miss Hill is a self-employed milliner and renews her 2004/2005 TC claim on 28 May 2005. If she provides an estimate of her 2004/2005 income she must provide the actual income figure by 31 January 2006. We will then finalise the 2004/2005 award and revise the provisional award for 2005/2006. Miss Hill is also required to file her SA return covering 2004/2005 income by 31 January 2006 and an SA enquiry can be opened up to 31 January 2007.
Example Y
As in Example X, but you open an examination into her 2005/06 claim on 23/08/2005, to check the child care arrangements. You think a piece of information you have obtained will be useful for SA, so you pass the intelligence to the CCRO. As it is specific to the year 2004/05, the CCRO will consider identifying the 2005/06 SA return for enquiry in due course.
As the return does not have to be filed until 31/01/2007, an SA enquiry is unlikely before that date - nearly 18 months after you made your TC examination.
Example Z
As in Example Y, but you do not examine the 2005/06 claim. The SA team takes up the 2005/06 return (filed on 15/12/2006) for enquiry on 01/07/2007. The enquiry results in additions to profits, so that the income to be reported for the 2005/06 TC claim is increased. The SA enquiry officer issues a BCCRS referral to Tax Credits where a customer compliance officer opens a Tax Credit enquiry.