CH84040 - Appeals against a penalty: Appeals against the amount of a penalty

This guidance applies to returns and documents with a filing date on or after 1 April 2009 where the return covers a tax period beginning on or after 1 April 2008 seeCH81011for full details.

A person may appeal against the amount of the penalty we impose.

The appeal will be heard by a tribunal, which may affirm our decision or replace it with another decision that we had the power to make.

If the tribunal decides to replace our decision, it may consider whether a special reduction can be given, see CH82480. The tribunal can consider

• our decision not to award a special reduction, or
• our decision on the amount of a special reduction.

If the tribunal decides that a special reduction is appropriate, it may

• apply the same percentage of reduction we applied but to a different starting point, or
• apply a different level of special reduction.

The tribunal is only able to apply a different level of special reduction where it has reason to believe that we reached a ‘flawed decision’ see CH84080, when we applied the special reduction provisions.