ESC A19 gets into trouble

Oups, there go your rights

It was reported earlier this year that the ESC A19 flowchart had been from the HMRC website (see post here) now it seems that HMRC wants to start hacking away at the legislation.

In a rievew published earlier this month HMRC said, “The consultation is designed to explore the option for a revised version of Extra-statutory Concession (ESC) A19. It is not intended to cover whether ESC A19 should exist or the scope of concessions, but rather how HMRC may be able to improve the clarity of this particular concession ensuring it continues to be applied appropriately.”

Which is code for, “We’ve got to axe this concession we’re losing billions”.

Why is this important? Well ESC A19 normally applies to tax codes, but the principle is this: if you have given HMRC information about your taxes and you reasonably believe you taxes are correct then HMRC can’t hammer you for arrears.

Here’s the flowchart again – the one they removed from their site – and you can see why!

The Flowchart now withdrawn from the HMRC website

You can see the full consultation document by clicking here.

You can make your feelings known by wringing to:

Angela Brown, Room 1E/07, HM Revenue and Customs, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ
By email to: paye.policy@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

It’s amazing, if this was about human rights people would be protesting in the streets, but because it’s a bit of tax code and it hasn’t got a very catchy name nobody (outside the industry) is talking about it.