HMRC directs ATED scheme-reference notifications to the postal form

HMRC now directs people using form AAG4(ATED) to report an Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings scheme reference number through the postal versionGOV. The form-specific instructions have removed the previous choice between online and postal submissionGOV. The form is for people who expect an ATED advantage and have received an eight-digit scheme reference number. HMRC lists four possible senders: HMRC itself, a scheme promoter, a person involved in supplying the arrangements, and a promoter’s client.

The postal form is interactive and must be completed on screen using Adobe Reader. HMRC directs users with problems opening or saving it to the Online Services Helpdesk. A Welsh version can be requested by email. The instruction to complete a form on screen therefore needs to be distinguished from an option to submit it online.

There is a discrepancy within HMRC’s guidance: section 17.17 of its detailed disclosure-of-tax-avoidance-schemes guidance still describes both online and postal submissionGOV. The form-specific instructions now describe the postal version aloneGOV. Practitioners preparing an AAG4(ATED) notification should take account of that difference when organising submission.

The separate question is whether a taxpayer needs AAG4(ATED) at all. HMRC’s detailed guidance says to report the reference on the ATED return where a return is required, its statutory filing deadline falls no later than the reference-notification deadline, and it is submitted within that filing limit. AAG4(ATED) is used in other circumstances, including where no return is required, the return is due later, it will be late, it has already been submitted without the reference, or excess references cannot be included on the return.

The period for separate ATED notification is 30 days. It begins with the later of two dates: the effective date of the first transaction forming part of the arrangements, or receipt of the scheme reference number. The form requires the taxpayer’s name and address and the scheme reference number. It also asks for the property address and any title number. Tax or business identifiers and the first chargeable period in which the ATED advantage is expected must also be provided. The detailed guidance says that an ATED scheme reference should never be entered on another Self Assessment return: doing so does not discharge the disclosure obligation.

The ATED amendments are in regulations 4 to 14 of the Tax Avoidance Schemes (Information) (Amendment, etc) Regulations 2013, amending the Tax Avoidance Schemes (Information) Regulations 2012.