SAM60020 - Interest, penalties and surcharge: interest: enquiries about and objections to interest
Any office can deal with an objection. However, where there is compliance involvement, the objection should be referred to the compliance caseworker.
Appeals cannot be accepted against interest charges but the customer can make an objection, and any expression of dissatisfaction can be considered to be an objection, which must be provided in writing. However, it is advisable to record the points raised accurately to support the objection. Also, the liability that the interest has been charged on must be paid in full before an objection can be considered. If an appeal is received which you are treating as an objection, send SEES letter SA824 to advise the customer.
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An enquiry may be regarded as a question of a general nature, for example about the rate of interest or the period for which interest is payable. The response will normally be factual.
An objection is when
- The relevant date or effective date of payment is disputed
- A claim is made that special circumstances justify reducing the charge
- Legislation is questioned
Or
- An explanation to an enquiry is not accepted
When reviewing an objection, you may need to decide whether any special concession should apply. In most cases, if HMRC has not made a mistake, the objection should be answered by explaining the facts and the law. For example, Section 101 of FA 2009 (or Section 86 TMA for periods up to and including 30 October 2011) must be applied. HMRC is under a statutory obligation to charge interest.
If you need to see the amount of interest accruing or charged, use function VIEW STATEMENT to view
- A copy of the taxpayer statements issued
- The statement for the position as at today
If the statements show interest charged and repayment supplement made for the same period see ’Interest charges / Repayment supplement’ (SAM111030) and section ‘Payment Allocation and Transfer’ (SAM80050).
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Movement of Money Service (MOMS)
The Movement of Money Service will enable you to
- Calculate Repayment Interest manually
- Deal with enquiries from taxpayers and agents about the basis of calculation of Repayment Interest
- Produce a screen print of the calculation which can then be sent to the taxpayer or agent
If the enquiry is, or results in, an objection to interest, deal with it quickly. While you look into the enquiry bear in mind that
- Interest, whether charged or accruing, will be shown on every statement issued to the taxpayer
- If you do not respond quickly the taxpayer may become increasingly annoyed with each statement which goes out
If there is going to be a delay in dealing with an interest objection, informally stand over the interest charge. Consider also inhibiting future statements until the matter is resolved. See subjects ‘Handling an Informal Standover’ (SAM11070) and ‘Inhibition of Statements’ (SAM131030) for more information.
All objections should be sent to the Interest Review Unit at Debt Management, Performance, Planning & Resource (Glasgow) using the appropriate submission form for interest cases. You can find the submission form on the Debt Management & Banking Intranet site on the Interest Review Unit pages - section ‘Helpcards and Templates’.
Note: IRU will not accept interest cases for review unless the interest charge is final. This means that the interest charge must not still be accruing (that is the liability on which the interest has been charged has been paid in full).