HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will now accept legal correspondence by email rather than by post throughout the coronavirus pandemic, it has been announced.
The notice forms part of new guidance designed to reduce the handling of paper documents and prevent the spread of the virus.
The updated guidance now specifies that new legal proceedings and pre-action letters should be served via email.
Legal correspondence could only previously be served in person or by post.
For new legal proceedings, taxpayers should use the newproceedings@hmrc.gov.uk, while pre-action letters should be sent to the Solicitor for HMRC in compliance with any pre-action protocol to the Civil Procedure Rules, including the Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review, via preactionletters@hmrc.gov.uk.
Importantly, any attachments should be included as a common format, such as a PDF or Microsoft Word document, and must not exceed 25mb in size.
“If you are likely to exceed the 25mb limit, please split the contents into smaller emails. If this is not practical, you should serve the principal documents (such as the claim form and particulars of claim) and ask HMRC to contact you to make alternative arrangements to serve the remaining documents,” the guidance states.
Please note that these new protocols apply to the service of new proceedings and pre-action letters only.
Those seeking to request a review of a tax decision by HMRC can do so using the online portal here, while those appealing to the First-tier Tribunal can do so here.
Commenting on the new guidance, an HMRC spokesperson said: “Due to coronavirus, HM Revenue and Customs has requested that, where possible, new legal proceedings and pre-action letters should be served via email rather than by post.
“This is to ensure that, during the pandemic, we can protect our staff by reducing the handling of paper documents where possible.”
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