Finance Act 1994

12 Assessments to excise duty. U.K.

(1) Subject to subsection (4) below, where it appears to the Commissioners—

(a) that any person is a person from whom any amount has become due in respect of any duty of excise; and

(b) that there has been a default falling within subsection (2) below,

the Commissioners may assess the amount of duty due from that person to the best of their judgement and notify that amount to that person or his representative.

[F1 (1A) Subject to subsection (4) below, where it appears to the Commissioners—

(a) that any person is a person from whom any amount has become due in respect of any duty of excise; and

(b) that the amount due can be ascertained by the Commissioners,

the Commissioners may assess the amount of duty due from that person and notify that amount to that person or his representative.]

(2) The defaults falling within this subsection are—

(a) any failure by any person to make, keep, preserve or produce as required or directed by or under any enactment any returns, accounts, books, records or other documents;

(b) any omission from or inaccuracy in any returns, accounts, books, records or other documents which any person is required or directed by or under any enactment to make, keep, preserve or produce;

(c) any failure by any person to take or permit to be taken any step which he is required under Schedule F2 ... 3 to the M1 Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981 [F3 or Schedule 1 to the Finance Act 1997] [F4 or Part 1 of Schedule 24 to the Finance Act 2012 [F5 or Part 3 of the Finance Act 2014]] to take or to permit to be taken;

[F6 (ca) any failure by any person to comply with a requirement to which he is made subject by or under [F7 Schedule 12 to the Finance (No. 2) Act 2023] (duty stamps);]

(d) any unreasonable delay in performing any obligation the failure to perform which would be a default falling within this subsection.

F8 (2A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3) Where an amount has been assessed as due from any person and notified in accordance with this section, it shall, subject to any appeal under section 16 below, be deemed to be an amount of the duty in question due from that person and may be recovered accordingly, unless, or except to the extent that, the assessment has subsequently been withdrawn or reduced.

(4) An assessment of the amount of any duty of excise due from any person shall not be made under this section at any time after whichever is the earlier of the following times, that is to say—

(a) subject to subsection (5) below, the end of the period of [F9 4 years] beginning with the time when his liability to the duty arose; and

(b) the end of the period of one year beginning with the day on which evidence of facts, sufficient in the opinion of the Commissioners to justify the making of the assessment, comes to their knowledge;

but this subsection shall be without prejudice, where further evidence comes to the knowledge of the Commissioners at any time after the making of an assessment under this section, to the making of a further assessment within the period applicable by virtue of this subsection in relation to that further assessment.

(5) Subsection (4) above shall have effect as if the reference in paragraph (a) to [F10 4 years] were a reference to twenty years [F11 in any case falling within subsection (5A)(a) or (b)] of any assessment to any amount of duty the assessment or payment of any of which has been postponed or otherwise affected by—

(a) conduct in respect of which any person (whether or not the person assessed)—

(i) has become liable to a penalty under section 8 above, or

(ii) has been convicted of an offence of fraud or dishonesty; or

(b) any conduct in respect of which proceedings for an offence of fraud or dishonesty would have been commenced or continued against any person (whether or not the person assessed), but for their having been compounded under section 152(a) of the Management Act.

[F12 (5A) The cases are—

(a) a case involving a loss of duty of excise brought about deliberately by the person assessed (P) or by another person acting on P's behalf, and

(b) a case in which P has participated in a transaction knowing that it was part of arrangements of any kind (whether or not legally enforceable) intended to bring about a loss of duty of excise.]

(6) The reference in subsection (4) above to the time when a person’s liability to a duty of excise arose are references—

(a) in the case of a duty of excise on goods, to the excise duty point; and

(b) in any other case, to the time when the duty was charged.

[F13 (6A) The reference in subsection (5A) to a loss of duty of excise brought about deliberately by P or another person includes a loss that arises as a result of—

(a) a deliberate inaccuracy in a document given to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs by that person, or

(b) a deliberate failure by that person to comply with an obligation specified in the Table in paragraph 1 of Schedule 41 to the Finance Act 2008 with respect to that duty of excise.]

F14 (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(8) In this section “representative”, in relation to a person appearing to the Commissioners to be a person from whom any amount has become due in respect of any duty of excise, means his personal representative [F15 , trustee in bankruptcy or interim or permanent trustee,] any receiver or liquidator appointed in relation to that person or any of his property or any other person acting in a representative capacity in relation to that person.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 12(1A) inserted (1.10.1998) by 1998 c. 36, s. 20, Sch. 2 paras. 7, 12; S.I. 1998/2243, art. 2

F2 Words in s. 12(2)(c) omitted (1.12.2014) by virtue of Finance Act 2014 (c. 26), s. 198(2)(c), Sch. 28 para. 16(a) (with Sch. 29)

F3 Words in s. 12(2)(c) inserted (19.3.1997) by 1997 c. 16, ss. 13, 15, Sch. 2 para. 7

F4 Words in s. 12(2)(c) inserted (17.7.2012) (with effect in accordance with Sch. 24 para. 66(2) of the amending Act) by Finance Act 2012 (c. 14), Sch. 24 para. 47

F5 Words in s. 12(2)(c) inserted (1.12.2014) by Finance Act 2014 (c. 26), s. 198(2)(c), Sch. 28 para. 16(b) (with Sch. 29)

F6 S. 12(2)(ca) inserted (with effect in accordance with s. 4(5) of the amending Act) by Finance Act 2004 (c. 12), s. 4(3); S.I. 2006/201, art. 2

F7 Words in s. 12(2)(ca) substituted (1.8.2023) by Finance (No. 2) Act 2023 (c. 30), s. 120(2), Sch. 13 para. 9; S.I. 2023/884, reg. 2(1)(j) (with reg. 10)

F8 S. 12(2A) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (c. 22), s. 57(3), Sch. 9 para. 8(1) (with savings and transitional provisions in 2020 c. 26, Sch. 2 para. 7(7)-(9)); S.I. 2020/1642, reg. 4(c) (with reg. 6)

F9 Words in s. 12(4)(a) substituted (1.4.2011) (with effect in accordance with Sch. 13 para. 3(7) of the amending Act) by Finance (No. 3) Act 2010 (c. 33), s. 29(2), Sch. 13 para. 3(2); S.I. 2011/777, art. 2 (with arts. 3 4)

F10 Words in s. 12(5) substituted (1.4.2011) (with effect in accordance with Sch. 13 para. 3(7) of the amending Act) by Finance (No. 3) Act 2010 (c. 33), s. 29(2), Sch. 13 para. 3(2); S.I. 2011/777, art. 2 (with arts. 3 4)

F11 Words in s. 12(5) substituted (1.4.2011) (with effect in accordance with Sch. 13 para. 3(7) of the amending Act) by Finance (No. 3) Act 2010 (c. 33), s. 29(2), Sch. 13 para. 3(3); S.I. 2011/777, art. 2 (with art. 4)

F12 S. 12(5A) inserted (1.4.2011) (with effect in accordance with Sch. 13 para. 3(7) of the amending Act) by Finance (No. 3) Act 2010 (c. 33), s. 29(2), Sch. 13 para. 3(4); S.I. 2011/777, art. 2 (with art. 4)

F13 S. 12(6A) inserted (1.4.2011) (with effect in accordance with Sch. 13 para. 3(7) of the amending Act) by Finance (No. 3) Act 2010 (c. 33), s. 29(2), Sch. 13 para. 3(5); S.I. 2011/777, art. 2 (with art. 4)

F14 S. 12(7) omitted (1.4.2011) (with effect in accordance with Sch. 13 para. 3(7) of the amending Act) by virtue of Finance (No. 3) Act 2010 (c. 33), s. 29(2), Sch. 13 para. 3(6); S.I. 2011/777, art. 2 (with art. 4)

F15 Words in s. 12(8) substituted (1.6.1997) by 1997 c. 16, s. 50(2), Sch. 6 paras. 1(3), 7; S.I. 1997/1305, art. 2

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 12 applied by 1981 c. 63, s. 26I(4) (as inserted (with effect in accordance with s. 8(2) of the amending Act) by Finance Act 2007 (c. 11), Sch. 1 para. 2; S.I. 2007/2172, art. 2)

C2 S. 12 modified (19.3.1997) by 1997 c. 16, ss. 12(6)(a), 15

C3 S. 12 modified by 1979 c. 5, s. 13AC(5) (as inserted (1.11.2008) by Finance Act 2008 (c. 9), Sch. 6 paras. 11, 21)

C4 S. 12 modified by 1979 c. 5, s. 14E(6) (as inserted (1.11.2008) by Finance Act 2008 (c. 9), Sch. 6 paras. 15, 21)

C5 S. 12 applied (with effect in accordance with s. 198(5) of the amending Act) by Finance Act 2014 (c. 26), ss. 167(3), 198(1) (with Sch. 29)

C6 S. 12(1) extended (29.4.1996 with effect as mentioned in 1996 c. 8, s. 6(5)) by 1979 c. 5, s. 20AAB(5) (as inserted by 1996 c. 8, s. 6(3)(5)); S.I. 1996/2751, art. 2

C7 S. 12(7) modified (E.W.) (1.10.2008) by Serious Crime Act 2007 (c. 27), s. 94(1), Sch. 6 para. 22 (with Sch. 13 para. 5); S.I. 2008/2504, art. 2(a)

Commencement Information

I1 S. 12 wholly in force at 1.1.1995; s. 12 not in force at Royal Assent see s. 19(1); s. 12 (except s. 12(7)(b)(c) and specified references in s. 12(7)(a)) in force for certain purposes at 1.11.1994 by S.I. 1994/2679, art. 2, Sch.; s. 12 in force at 1.1.1995 insofar as not already in force by S.I. 1994/2679, art. 3

Marginal Citations

M1 1981 c. 63.