Introduction

The onus is on the taxpayer to inform HMRC of the chargeability to tax. Each of the taxes has different legislative provisions, but the common theme is that a taxpayer must notify HMRC when certain criteria are met, including (but not limited to):

1. •

   becoming liable to income tax, corporation tax or capital gains tax (for example, a new source of income such as property income)

2. •

   beginning a new activity or changing an existing activity which will lead to a tax / VAT liability (for example, setting up a new trade or where there is material change in the nature of supplies made by a person previously exempted from VAT registering), or

3. •

   reaching certain thresholds (for example, the statutory limits for VAT registration)

As each tax has separate requirements, these are discussed below. It also follows that a taxpayer may have separate notification requirements for different taxes. For example, a taxpayer may have to notify HMRC of a liability to corporation tax and VAT separately, on different dates, or risk attracting a penalty