COM10001 - Appeals: handling appeals and postponements: introduction

Apart from appeals relating to enquiry procedures, which are dealt with in the Enquiry Manual, a company may appeal against

Assessments, determinations and decisions on claims

For a CTSA AP

• A Revenue Amendment (Word 30KB) 
• A Jeopardy Amendment (Word 29KB) 
• A Discovery Assessment (Word 28KB) 
• A Discovery Determination
• A Penalty Determination

• A Technical Caseworker’s amendment of a claim

A company cannot appeal against

• A Revenue Determination (Word 29KB) of tax liability in the absence of a return

• A correction of a return

For a CT Pay & File AP

• An assessment
• A penalty determination
• A loss determination

• A Technical Caseworker’s decision on a claim

Top of page

Postponement

When a company appeals against an assessment or amendment of an assessment, it may apply to postpone payment of some or all of the tax charged.

A company must

• Make an appeal and / or request for postponement where applicable
• In writing to the HMRC Office
• Within 30 days from the 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 companies to make late appeals.

Late-filing penalties

The postponement provisions do not apply to penalty determinations. When you record an appeal, COTAX automatically stands over the penalties charged by a determination, but not yet paid. This means that pursuit is not possible while a penalty is under appeal.

Top of page

Informal standover

You can informally stand over a tax charge. Informal standovers have no legal basis and are therefore quite distinct from formal postponements of tax. When you stand over an amount informally COTAX sends no output to the company.

Top of page

Considering and managing postponements and standovers

As part of its duty of collection and management of Corporation Tax, HMRC must be able to provide assurance that all postponements and standovers are appropriately made and managed. This ensures that monies are received at the appropriate time and passed to the Exchequer.

All postponements and standovers must therefore be

• Carefully considered (to determine if they are acceptable or not) - see COM10050 
• Actively managed - see COM10120.

Top of page

Determination of appeals

Appeals can be either

• Determined by agreement between you and the company

• Determined by the Tribunal (Word 34KB) 

• Withdrawn by the company

Alternatively, or in addition, once they have sent an appeal to HMRC the company may either

• Have a review (whether by accepting our offer or by requesting a review) (ARTG4000+)

• Notify the appeal to the Tribunal (ARTG2400+)

They may notify their appeal to the Tribunal at any time after sending their appeal to HMRC, unless

• They have accepted an offer of a review (ARTG4220)

• They have asked for a review and the Decision Maker (Word 28KB) has written to them with our view of the matter (ARTG4290)

For general information on appeals and postponements see the Appeals, Reviews and Tribunals Guidance (ARTG) Manual. For guidance on handling appeals against non-COTAX charges see COM23130.