HMRC sets 30-day limit for extra clearance information

HMRC must receive additional information requested for a Non-Statutory Clearance Service application within 30 days of the date on its letterGOV. Its guidance now says applications may be closed and receive no further consideration if requested information does not arrive within that periodGOV. Advisers handling an information request should therefore calculate the response window from the letter date.

The service also expressly excludes requests for reassurance or confirmation that a taxpayer’s position is correct. Applicants must demonstrate genuine uncertainty about how legislation applies to their circumstancesGOV. They must first have fully read the relevant guidance or contacted the relevant helpline, and still have been unable to find the information they need. The revised wording makes that threshold explicit; it does not offer a general check of a proposed tax treatment.

Applicants should check whether a more appropriate clearance or approval route covers their transaction before using this service. The annexes identify the information to provide for different applications, and HMRC requires applicants to be satisfied that their information is accurate and correct to the best of their knowledge and belief. The new 30-day rule applies when HMRC subsequently requests additional informationGOV.

The guidance continues to say that HMRC usually replies within 28 days unless complicated issues arise, while VAT non-statutory clearance requests take approximately 12 weeks. Where more information is needed before a full reply, HMRC says: “we’ll suspend the handling time for your application until you’re able to give us the additional information that we’ve requested.” Applicants should distinguish that processing pause from their own 30-day response requirement.

For disputed advice, the revised guidance retains the option to contact the officer who handled the application, explain overlooked facts and ask for reconsideration. It removes the previous statement that an unhappy applicant can ask for referral to another officerGOV. The route to complain about HMRC’s handling of a request remains described.

HMRC also continues to require returns and tax payments on time while advice is outstanding. Reliance on its advice depends on supplying accurate, complete information and carrying out proposed transactions exactly as described.

The procedural basis is HMRC’s Non-Statutory Clearance Service guidance, particularly its sections on eligibility, information requirements and disagreement with advice.