COM10030 - Appeals: handling appeals and postponements: appeals received in Accounts Office
This subject is presented as follows
Appeals and postponements against tax charges
Appeals against penalty determinations
Correspondence
Interest Objections
Appeals and postponements against tax charges
A company or agent may appeal against an assessment or amendment and apply for postponement of the tax charged. In the absence of an application to postpone payment, the tax as charged in the assessment or amendment remains payable in full.
An appeal and / or request for postponement relating to a tax charge should be made
- By the company or its agent
- In writing
- To the office responsible for CT processing
When a company sends an appeal to Accounts Office, you may need to suspend collection of the liability while the appeal is referred to the office responsible for CT processing. For more information see COM110000 onwards.
You should only suspend collection when you consider that there are valid grounds for appeal.
Do not suspend collection when
- The appeal is not in writing
- There is no application for postponement of the tax
- The company or agent makes an unsupported claim that a repayment is due
- Collection of the charge has been suspended before
- The liability was previously stood over and subsequently released
- You can answer the query raised
- Correspondence is a duplicate copy of an earlier letter to the caseworker and it is clear that the caseworker has dealt with the letter
- You consider the correspondence does not constitute a genuine appeal, but is simply a delaying tactic
On receipt of an appeal or suspension against a tax charge the responsible office either
- Stands over or amends the charge
Or
- Uses Function RSUD (Cancel Suspension) to cancel the suspension and confirm collection is to proceed
Any standover or amendment to the charge automatically cancels the suspension.
When the responsible office postpones collection of a liability, COTAX creates a postponement posting on the company’s record. Function VPPD (View Payment and Posting Details) shows these postings as
- SO - Standover
- ISO - Informal standover
- SOR - Standover release caused by the recording of a return
The Function VPPD summary screen shows these postings under a general heading ‘stood over’. Once a postponement has been recorded on COTAX it is the responsibility of the case owner to actively manage the postponement. For further information on this subject see COM10120.
Appeals against penalty determinations
A company or agent may appeal against a penalty. The postponement provisions do not apply. This means that no action can be taken to collect a penalty while it remains under appeal.
An appeal against a penalty charge must be made
- By the company or its agent
- In writing
- To the responsible office
On receipt of a valid appeal against a penalty determination the responsible office
- Records receipt of the appeal (which automatically stands over the full amount charged on the determination which remains unpaid)
- Inhibits automatic output for the penalty, if necessary
- Actively manages the standover
- Takes action to settle the appeal
The company may claim that
- It has a reasonable excuse for the late delivery of the return
Or
- The amount of the penalty is incorrect
Correspondence
You must treat correspondence that disputes the amount of tax or penalty charged as a potential appeal. You should take care to distinguish between cases where
- The company disputes the amount charged
And
- The company has difficulty paying the amount due and is seeking time to pay or a delay in collection
Interest Objections
Accounts Office deals with objections to interest (including Debit Interest (Word 31KB) , Credit Interest (Word 34KB) and Late Payment Interest (Word 27KB) unless the AP is working
Accounts Office also deal with interest objections in respect of interest charged on Quarterly Instalment Payment (Word 42KB) cases.
Late Payment Interest is charged on late paid CT from the normal due date (Word 49KB) to the EDP (Word 41KB) regardless of whether an appeal has been made or the responsible office has stood over the tax.
For a list of forms relevant to this subject, see COM10031.
For a list of functions to use in particular situations, see COM10032.
