Guidance

Appeal an employment intermediary penalty

Appeal a penalty if your employment intermediary report is late, incomplete or incorrect.

If you are an employment intermediary and are not responsible for operating PAYE on a workers pay, you:

  • must send reports with the details of all workers you place with clients
  • may get a penalty notice if your report is late, incomplete or incorrect

You must send reports to HMRC at least once every 3 months.

Find out more about how to send employment intermediary reports to HMRC.

If you get a penalty notice

If you do not agree a penalty is due, you can appeal against it to HMRC. To do this, you’ll need the details from the penalty notice you received.

Before you appeal, you’ll need the:

  • customer reference number
  • charge reference — you can also find this in your Government Gateway
  • tax year of appeal
  • reporting period of appeal
  • reason for the appeal and any supporting information

Appeal now

Use the online tool to appeal a penalty for late filing, incomplete or incorrect returns. Once you have completed the tool, follow the instructions to attach your claim and email it to us.

Appeal now

If you need to appeal in writing

If you need to appeal in writing, send your appeal to:

EICU
Employment Status & Intermediaries
STEPS S1250
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ

After you submit your appeal

We will: 

  • review your appeal
  • respond to you within 30 days of receiving it
  • suspend any action to collect the penalty charge amount during the appeal process

If you disagree with the outcome, you must: 

  • request an independent review
  • produce more evidence

Once we’ve made a final decision and there is no further right of appeal, HMRC will pursue collection of the outstanding debt. 

Updates to this page

Published 12 May 2025

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