International Exchange of Information Manual

IEIM905600 - Appeals Against Penalties

Where a person has been charged a penalty for a failure under the regulations the person may appeal against the penalty assessment. The appeal must be made in writing to HMRC within 30 days from the date on which the notice of an assessment to a penalty was issued. Appeals may be notified to the tribunal. The appeal may be against the imposition of the penalty or against the amount of the penalty.

POs have a legal right to have ‘appealable tax’ decisions or ‘assessments’ reviewed by another HMRC officer before appealing to the tribunal. The review will be carried out by a review officer (RO), who was not involved in making the decision and is, in most cases, outside the direct line management chain of the decision maker (DM).

If a person asks for a review, the case is referred to a RO to carry out a review of the disputed decision. The review will consider whether the decision was made correctly in line with

• Legislation
• Policy
• Practice

The RO will not make judgements on the consequences that flow from the outcome of the review. If the person agrees with the RO’s review conclusion and does not notify their appeal to the tribunal, then the DM may need to make a further decision based on the RO’s findings.

In deciding the appeal, HMRC or the tribunal may uphold the original assessment, cancel the penalty, or vary the amount of the penalty as it considers appropriate in view of its findings.