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The published Notice 12A what you can do if things are seized by HM Revenue and Customs explains HMRC's powers to seize items which include vehicles and other goods. The notice has recently been updated to provide clarification on when you can challenge a seizure made by HMRC or Border Force.

Taxpayers who have had items seized by HMRC receive a notice which lists the items which have been seized and should also receive an explanation of the reason for the seizure.

Once items have been seized, taxpayers have three options if they disagree with the seizure:

  1. Appealing against the legality of the seizure within the legal time frame.
  2. Asking for restoration within the legal time frame.  This is when the taxpayer asks for an item to be returned even if the taxpayer accepts that HMRC had a legal right to seize it.
  3. A combination of the first two options at the same time by challenging the legality of the seizure and asking for the seized item to be returned in the meantime.

Taxpayers also have a further option of lodging a complaint on the way the seizure was handled (rather than its legality). The notice gives further details on appealing against a seizure, appealing the case to tribunal, challenging HMRC’s or Border Force’s legal right to seize an item and the restoration process.

Source: New feed