Requesting a Review of an HMRC Decision

Have you received a decision letter from HMRC? Are you facing a penalty, an assessment, or a dispute you believe is wrong?

You have 30 days to act. That’s your window. The countdown begins from the date on their letter, not the date you received it. You may have already lost several days.

If you miss it or waste it, The sums you owe become due and HMRC will look to collect them.

There may be limited options to challenge HMRC decisions, but they are discretionary and would depend on the individual circumstances and will be case specific.

And if you don’t engage with HMRC and don’t pay what they say you owe, you may face interest on the outstanding amount as well as penalties or surcharges. Once those deadlines pass, your options become much more limited.

Why the review process matters

The review process is your lifeline.

It’s your best chance to overturn HMRC’s decision without facing an expensive tribunal. But many businesses waste it by simply asking for reconsideration without presenting compelling new arguments or evidence. The review upholds the original decision, and they’ve wasted their opportunity.

As specialist HMRC and tax disputes solicitors, we’ve seen this happen too many times. That’s why we’re clear with every client: what you do at this stage matters.

If you’re late and you’ve already missed the deadline, skip ahead to the section on missed HMRC deadlines.

How appeals work: direct tax vs indirect tax

Appeals against HMRC decisions usually follow the same process, although there are differences depending on whether your appeal relates to direct taxes or indirect taxes.

Here’s the distinction. An indirect tax is a tax on expenditure and is paid to HMRC by a supplier of the goods and services (VAT is an example). A direct tax is a tax on income, profits and wealth and is paid directly to HMRC (Income Tax, Corporation Tax, etc.). If you’re enquiring about a Self-Assessment penalty, for example, you’re dealing with the direct tax route.

Direct tax (Self-Assessment, Corporation Tax, Income Tax, etc.)

To appeal a decision on a Self-Assessment or another direct tax, you must appeal within 30 days of the date on the decision letter.

This is the date of the decision letter, not the date the letter is received. Your countdown has therefore already begun, even before you receive the letter.

You’ll need to explain why you disagree with the decision and, if possible, provide supporting information such as a copy of a bank statement or receipts.

If your appeal is received on time, the officer at HMRC will consider your appeal and will either agree with you and amend their decision or confirm their original decision in their conclusion letter.

If parties can’t reach an agreement, HMRC will write to you to tell you what their current view of the matter is and offer you an impartial statutory review. You can then either accept the offer of a review or appeal to the tax tribunal.

Our specialist HMRC and tax disputes lawyers know that the enquiries we receive are often complex and time sensitive. Instructing our team at an early stage will ensure that an appeal can be made to the tax tribunal in good time if required.

Statutory review

A statutory review is carried out impartially by a “review officer” who works in HMRC’s Solicitor’s Office and Legal Services directorate. If you disagree with the review officer’s decision, you still have the option to appeal to the tax tribunal.

Whatever option you decide to follow, you only have 30 days from the date on HMRC’s conclusion letter to accept the offer of a review or appeal to the tax tribunal. If you don’t take any action within the 30-day period, the original decision will stand and your appeal will be treated as “settled by agreement”.

In summary, failure to meet these timescales can leave you unable to challenge the decision any further, especially if the appeal is made too late.

Indirect tax (VAT Assessments, VAT Penalties, Excise Duty, etc.)

For decisions on indirect taxes such as VAT Assessments or VAT Penalties, in HMRC’s decision letter you will be offered a review and the option to appeal to the tax tribunal. You have 30 days to accept the offer of a review or appeal to the tax tribunal.

If you don’t take any action, the original decision will stand.

If you have more information to send to HMRC but need more time to do this, you can ask HMRC to extend the time limit for you to accept the offer of review, but you must do this before the 30-day deadline.

What happens if you’ve already missed the deadline?

If you miss the 30-day deadline to appeal to HMRC (direct tax) or accept the review offer (direct or indirect tax), you’ll need to have a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline. HMRC publishes a full list of reasonable excuses on gov.uk.

Some examples of what HMRC may accept as a reasonable excuse for delay include the death of your partner or another close relative, an unexpected stay in hospital that prevented you from dealing with your tax affairs, or a serious or life-threatening illness.

You would be expected to provide evidence of these circumstances to show that they affected your ability to appeal within the 30-day time limit. The burden is on you to show you have a reasonable excuse for the delay.

If HMRC don’t believe that there was a reasonable excuse, it won’t matter how strong your position was or what the outcome may have been had the case been heard before the tribunal. You’re out of time to appeal, so their decision will stand.

The difficulty is that HMRC’s bar for accepting a reasonable excuse is high. “I was busy” won’t cut it. “I didn’t understand the letter” won’t work either. You need to show genuine circumstances that prevented you from acting, and you need evidence to back it up.

Before you submit a late appeal, it’s worth getting specialist advice to assess whether your excuse is likely to succeed. That way, you can understand the strength of your position and the evidence you’ll need before you approach HMRC.

That’s why it’s so important to take legal advice as soon as you receive a decision letter from HMRC. You need to decide whether you’ll exercise your right of appeal within the relevant time limits.

Our specialist HMRC and tax disputes solicitors know that the enquiries we receive are often complex and time sensitive. If you’ve missed the deadline and wish to discuss whether a tax liability can be appealed out of time or if you have a reasonable excuse, we can offer a fixed-cost review to assess your reasonable excuse.

We can discuss the evidence and the strength of your excuse or argument before you decide to challenge HMRC, and our specialist HMRC and tax disputes lawyers would be happy to discuss if your enquiry would be suitable for this route.

How Altion Law can help with your review

The review is a critical opportunity to change HMRC’s mind. We know what arguments work, what evidence matters, and how to position your case for the best outcome.

We act fast because deadlines matter. We’ve successfully overturned HMRC decisions for clients who thought they had no way forward. And we provide legal advice before you respond to HMRC, which protects your position and makes sure you don’t accidentally weaken your case by saying the wrong thing.

Whatever your situation, don’t waste your lifeline. Let us help you make the most of it.

For a confidential free discussion, call us today on 01908 414990. Alternatively, email us at Hello@altion-law.co.uk or complete our Free Enquiry Form and we will call you back.