Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 77

Assessments: time limits and supplementary assessments

Section 77 sets out the time limits within which HMRC may raise VAT assessments under sections 73 and 76, including extended time limits for deliberate behaviour, and allows supplementary assessments where the original amount was too low.

• The standard time limit for making a VAT assessment is 4 years from the end of the relevant accounting period, the importation concerned, or the event giving rise to a penalty.
• Where a penalty, interest or surcharge penalty depends on first establishing the underlying VAT liability, HMRC has 2 years from the date the VAT amount is finally determined (or from when relevant facts came to their knowledge) to raise the assessment.
• In cases involving deliberate VAT loss, knowing participation in tax loss arrangements, failure to register for VAT, or failure to disclose a tax avoidance scheme, the time limit is extended to 20 years.
• Where a person has died, any assessment relating to the deceased's conduct must be made within 4 years of the death, and HMRC may raise a supplementary assessment if the original assessment was too low, provided it is made within the original time limit.