Think your tax affairs are settled? Think again.

Thursday 06 August 2026 5:51 am

| Updated:

Wednesday 05 August 2026 1:05 pm

HMRC is shaking up the ISA system

If you think your tax affairs are settled with HMRC, you may need to think again – a small error from years ago could come back to haunt you, says Fiona FernieHMRC have just issued a consultation called Modernising the Correction of Errors which includes a proposal that requires taxpayers who become aware of an inaccuracy in tax returns or other documents they have submitted to correct them. The issue is how the rules could work in practice and that many taxpayers may not be aware it’s in HMRC’s legislation pipeline.The correction obligation is linked to statutory time limits for HMRC assessments – generally four years where reasonable care was taken, six years where behaviour was careless and up to 20 years where an error was deliberate. Under the new proposals taxpayers who discover errors while reviewing old documents or returns up to 20 years old will undoubtedly clash with HMRC if they disagree about whether corrections were required.