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The amount of tax notified to a person under VATA 1994, s 73(1) or (7)¹ may relate to two or more prescribed accounting periods². The document(s) sent or handed to the trader may comprise a notice of a separate assessment for each prescribed accounting period or a notice of a single assessment (known as a 'global assessment') for the prescribed accounting periods as a whole. A global assessment is, therefore, simply a single assessment for more than one prescribed accounting period rather than a series of assessments referable to individual prescribed accounting periods³. The distinction is important in relation to time limits for making an assessment⁴ and to an application for an appeal to be entertained without payment or deposit of tax⁵.

The question whether HMRC has made a global assessment or a number of separate assessments is a question of fact⁶ to be resolved by construing the document(s) concerned. Such documents are not limited to the formal notice of assessment (Form VAT 655) but include