Guidance

Appeal a Self Assessment penalty for late filing or late payment

Find out how to appeal an individual or partnership Self Assessment penalty.

When you will be issued with a penalty

HMRC will send you a penalty notice if you miss the deadline for either:

  • sending in your tax return
  • paying your Self Assessment tax on time

If you do not agree that a penalty is due, you can appeal against it to HMRC.

You should consider paying the penalty if you appeal. If you do not, and your appeal is rejected, you’ll have to pay interest on the penalty from the date it was due to the date you paid it.

If we agree your appeal, we’ll repay what you’ve paid with interest from the date you paid it (if you do not have any other outstanding tax to pay).

If you do not need to submit a tax return

You can ask us to cancel a penalty if you do not need to send us a Self Assessment tax return.

Before you start

You’ll need:

  • the date the penalty was issued
  • the date you filed your Self Assessment tax return (if you have submitted it)
  • the date you paid your tax (if you have paid it)
  • details of your reasonable excuse for filing your return late, or not making your payment on time

How to appeal

Use this tool to check how to appeal an individual or partnership Self Assessment penalty.

You will be able to either:

  • make your appeal online
  • download form SA370 or SA371 to appeal by post

Start now

After you submit your appeal

Find out when you can expect to receive a reply from HMRC after submitting your appeal.

You can ask HMRC to review the decision if you disagree with the outcome.

Check how to pay a Self Assessment Penalty.

Updates to this page

Published 23 January 2024

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