COM23172 - Assessing: CTSA assessments: revenue determinations: Example 1

Example 1 

A large company with an established tax history makes up its accounts to 31 December annually.  Its first Accounting Period (AP) is from 01/01/2019 to 31/12/2019 and COTAX identifies it as a ‘Potential’ Quarterly Payer. 

In January 2020, COTAX: 

  • creates the next AP from 01/01/2020 to 31/12/2020 
  • sets the Quarterly Payer signal to ‘Potential’ based on the value of the signal for the previous AP 
  • issues instalment payslips from June 2020 for the AP ending 31/12/2020 

In December 2020: 

  • the company delivers its return and self assessment for the AP 01/01/2019 to 31/12/2019 with no entry in the Quarterly Instalment Payments box 
  • COTAX processing automatically changes the value of the Quarterly Payer signal from ‘Potential’ to ‘No’ for the AP ended 31/12/2019 

Please note that: COTAX does not amend the signal for AP ended 31/12/2020 from ‘Potential’ to ‘No’.  That AP keeps its inherited value until it is changed manually, or by the capture of a return for that period 

In July 2022: 

  • the AP ended 31/12/2020 appears on the Determination Required No Return List (DRNR) as the company has not delivered its return 
  • the Technical Caseworker decides to make a Revenue Determination for the AP 

After reviewing the company’s record and previous history, the Technical Caseworker uses Function RAMA (Record/Amend Assessment) to estimate the company’s profits at £525,000.  This exceeds the upper limit, as reduced by 1 plus the number of associated companies shown in the 2019 return.  The Technical Caseworker changes the Quarterly Payer signal from ‘Potential’ to ‘Yes’. 

COTAX compares the determination figures with the value of the Quarterly Payer signal and displays a warning message, ‘The figures entered indicate that the QP signal for this AP is incorrect’. 

It does that because COTAX has no information about franked investment income or associated companies, unless you have activated the [Switch to Full] button on screen COT122N to see the ‘full’ form and entered information such as the number of associated companies as shown in the 2019 return. 

The Technical Caseworker confirms the Quarterly Payer status as ‘Yes’ and finishes making the Revenue Determination with Function RAMA.