Some 10,000 individuals who had declared interest on their 2014-15 self-assessment tax returns received a nudge letter from HMRC at Christmas.

The letters – which were not copied to tax agents – asked people to look again at the interest figures shown on their return to check that the declaration was correct.

However, there was no indication of any information held by HMRC or what might have been overlooked. Further, although a reference to penalties featured in the letter, there was no information on what these could be if someone had inadvertently – or deliberately – done something wrong.

In discussions …