COM10050 - Appeals: handling appeals and postponements: assessment appeals in responsible CT office
This subject is presented as follows
Appeals
Formal applications for postponement
Suspensions
Output
Appeals
A company or its agent must
- Make an appeal and / or request for postponement where applicable
- In writing to the responsible office
- Within 30 days from date of issue of the notice (for Discovery Assessments)
- Within 30 days after the amendment was notified to the company (for Jeopardy and Revenue Amendments)
There is also provision for the company to make a late appeal.
If the appeal is valid you use Function HAPP (Handle Appeal) to record receipt of the appeal.
Note: A company has no right of appeal against a Revenue Determination or a Revenue Correction of a return. For further information on this subject, see the ‘Introduction’ in this section (COM10001).
All open appeals are entered on work list LASO (Open Appeals and Informal Standovers List). For more information about this work list see
- Section ‘Appeals Work Lists’ in this business area
And
- Business area ‘Work Lists’
Formal applications for postponement
A formal application for postponement may also be included with the appeal. ARTG2070 gives guidance to the Decision Maker (Word 28KB) on whether to accept an appeal or not but doesn’t explicitly cover postponements. The postponement application will normally be considered at the same time as the appeal by the Decision Maker.
Decision makers
Decision makers should consider the following points when deciding whether to accept a postponement application or not:
- Carefully consider each postponement application on its own merits
- Look at the tax implications. For example, if the tax due is £20,000 and the company asks for it all to be postponed, is it likely that part of the tax (say £12,000) will become payable in any event? If so you must negotiate with the company or agent to agree a lesser postponement
- You must have very strong grounds for agreeing a formal postponement application against a Jeopardy Amendment (Word 29KB) as we will have amended the company’s self assessment because of a likely loss of tax to the Crown (see Para 30 Sch 18 FA 98)
- Check to see if an avoidance scheme is present, and where one is consider whether delaying payment of tax is one of the objectives of the scheme.
Where you agree to the postponement application you should use Function HAPP (Handle Appeal) to record it on COTAX.
Identifying the case owner
Once a postponement has been recorded on COTAX you must identify the case owner. This could be the Decision Maker, the caseworker or someone else with an interest or responsibility. The case owner must actively manage the postponement. See COM10120 for further guidance on what this means and the actions to take.
Suspensions
Where Accounts Office or the Debt Management office record a suspension in potential appeal cases, they will send you the appropriate correspondence with form
- AOC385 from Accounts Office (Cumbernauld)
Or
- C52D from the Debt Management office
Output
COTAX automatically issues the appropriate notification according to the details entered in Function HAPP as follows
- 64-4(Ack) to confirm that the appeal has been received
- 64-4 to confirm agreement of the amount of the postponement
- 64-5(1) and (2) if you need to suggest an alternative amount to be postponed
- 64-5(3) if the Tribunal (Word 34KB) determines the amount to be postponed or the Decision Maker (Word 28KB) notifies it to the company
On the final screen of Function HAPP, COTAX gives you the option of sending the appropriate form to
- The company
- The agent
Or
- Inhibiting the output
Note: You can only send appeal output to an agent when
- The agent’s details are recorded on the company’s COTAX record
And
- The 64-8 received signal has been set
For a list of forms relevant to this subject, see COM10051.
For a list of functions to use in particular situations, see COM10052.
For legislation applying to this subject, see COM10053.
