The deadlines for making claims to recover overpaid tax are changing and the new limits relating to the 2004-05 and 2005-06 tax years are very close indeed so quick action will be necessary if a claim is to be made in time.

The new time limit gives taxpayers only 4 years from the end of the tax year in which the overpayment of tax occurred to make the claim.

Here are the new deadline dates:

Tax Year    Deadline
2003-04       31 January 2010
2004-05       31 March 2010
2005-06       5 April 2010
2006-07       5 April 2011
2007-08       5 April 2012
2008-09       5 April 2013

The other side of the coin is that from 1 April 2010 HMRC can only raise discovery assessments for up to 4 years, unless there has been careless or deliberate understatement. However, they can still go back 6 years for ‘careless’ behaviour and 20 years for ‘deliberate’ behaviour.