New guidance to help claim overpayment relief for recovering overpaid income tax, capital gains tax (CGT), Class 4 NIC or reducing an excessive assessment was published today by HM Revenue and Customs.
This guidance covers both overpayments and excessive assessments. It deals specifically with income tax and CGT .
The rules for overpayment relief are intended to:
- Give a single route for persons to recover overpayments
- Bring the claims process into line with self-assessment claims
- Align time limits with those for other claims.
Overpayment relief applies from 1 April 2010 for all tax years.
The person must make the overpayment relief claim within four years of the end of the relevant tax year or accounting period.
There are transitional rules giving a longer time limit for income tax self assessment returns for the tax years 2004-5 and 2005-6.
The claim must be in the correct form and must state the amount that the person believes they have overpaid.
There are specific situations where overpayment relief is not available.
For example, a person can only claim overpayment relief if they have not had a reasonable chance to correct their tax liability any other way, by making or amending a self-assessment return or appealing against an HMRC assessment or amendment of their return.
As far as possible, disputes relating to overpayment claims are dealt with through a tribunal rather than by claims directly to the High Court.
Overpayment relief replaces the old error or mistake rules for individuals, partnerships and companies.
From 1 April 2010, it is not possible to make a claim for the old error or mistake relief for any period.
