Putting it right before HMRC writes
Correcting a tax position voluntarily is usually treated more favourably than waiting to be found. The value is in scoping it correctly before anything is filed.
Why timing changes the outcome
The penalty rules distinguish between an unprompted disclosure and aprompted one. Broadly, a disclosure is unprompted when it is made at a time when you had no reason to believe HMRC was about to discover the matter. Once a letter has arrived, that option has usually gone.
This is the one area of our work where acting earlier is straightforwardly better. It is also the area where people most often delay, because nothing external is forcing the issue.
The routes
Let Property Campaign
HMRC’s disclosure route for individual landlords with undeclared income from residential lettings. It commonly applies where a property was let out without the income being returned, or where allowable expenses and reliefs were misunderstood over a number of years.
Worldwide Disclosure Facility
The route for UK tax liabilities relating wholly or partly to offshore income, assets or activities. Offshore matters carry their own penalty regime, and the exposure can be materially higher than for an equivalent domestic issue. With international information exchange now routine, undisclosed offshore positions are considerably more visible to HMRC than they once were.
Unprompted disclosures outside a named facility
Not every correction fits a published campaign. Where it does not, a disclosure can still be made directly, and the same principles about scope, behaviour and years apply.
What we do
- Establish the full extent of the position before anything is notified
- Determine which behaviour applies, since it drives both years and penalties
- Identify the right route, or advise that none of the campaigns fits
- Prepare the disclosure and the computations
- Put the penalty position and any mitigation to HMRC deliberately
- Manage correspondence through to settlement, including time to pay where needed
If HMRC has already written to you, a disclosure is still often the right course, but the framing changes. Start with identifying the letter, because whether it is a nudge letter or a formal enquiry materially affects how a disclosure should be made.
Common questions
Is it better to disclose before HMRC contacts me?
An unprompted disclosure — one made before you have reason to believe HMRC is about to discover the matter — is generally treated more favourably in the penalty rules than a prompted one. What that means for your position depends on the facts, including how long the matter has run and whether the conduct was careless or deliberate.
What is the Let Property Campaign?
It is an HMRC disclosure route for individual landlords who have undeclared income from residential property lettings. It sets out how to notify HMRC, make the disclosure and pay what is owed.
What is the Worldwide Disclosure Facility?
The WDF is the route for disclosing a UK tax liability that relates wholly or partly to offshore income, assets or activities. Offshore matters carry their own penalty regime, and the figures can be materially higher than for equivalent domestic issues.
Will disclosing trigger an investigation?
Making a disclosure is not itself an invitation to investigate, and the disclosure facilities exist because HMRC prefers voluntary correction. But a disclosure that is incomplete or wrongly scoped can cause more difficulty than it resolves, which is why the work is in getting it right before it is filed.
How many years does a disclosure need to cover?
That depends on the behaviour involved. The number of years HMRC can assess differs depending on whether the position arose despite reasonable care, from carelessness, or from deliberate conduct — and the offshore rules differ again. Establishing which applies is part of the work, not a detail to assume.
Start with the letter
Send a photo of page one on WhatsApp. We will tell you what it is, what the deadline means, and what a fixed fee would look like — within one working hourduring monday to friday, 9am to 5pm.
We only need the letter. Please do not send bank statements, identity documents or your UTR at this stage.