CCM14260 - Closing the Enquiry: Penalty cases: Informing the claimant(s)

Once you have established all of the facts relevant to the period covered in your enquiry you should write to the claimant advising them of the following:-

1. No continuing award
   
   

1. HMRC’s preferred method of settlement for cases involving a penalty is a contract settlement in which they will offer to repay the overpaid credits, penalties and any interest. The offer will state the date(s) on which the monies will be repaid.
   
   
2. You will be amending their award for all of the periods covered by the enquiry including the CY, if that is also affected by the outcome of your enquiry. They will shortly receive a formal notification of the decision against which they have the right of appeal.
   
   
3. Although the revised award notices will reflect the correct position regarding the amounts of the award they should ignore the messages regarding recoveries of the tax credits overpaid. You will be intending to recover these overpayments as part of the contract settlement and you will contact them again in 30 days time.
   
   

2. Continuing award
   
   

4. HMRC’s preferred method of settlement for cases involving a penalty is a contract settlement in which they will offer to repay the penalty. The offer will state the date(s) on which the monies will be repaid.
   
   
5. You will be amending their award for all of the periods covered by the enquiry including the CY, if that is affected by the outcome of your enquiry. They will shortly receive a formal notification of the decision against which they have the right of appeal.
   
   

If you have discussed the points shown above during a meeting you should still send a short letter reminding them of the position. It is particularly important that claimants are aware of point (a. 3).

Once you have written to the claimant the award should be amended and you should follow the guidance in CCM14265.

You should only revise the award for an enquiry year once you are in a position to make a final decision. Unless the claimant appeals against the decision you will not be able to make any further amendments (other than under the discovery provisions). Also, although you will be able to continue with the settlement process, you will not be able to make any further enquiries for this year.