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If the deadline on a UK HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) income-tax decision has passed, you can still ask HMRC to admit an appeal late. Write promptly, identify the exact decision, explain and evidence your reasonable excuse, and show that you acted without unreasonable delay once the problem ended. If HMRC refuses, you can ask the tax tribunal for permission to lodge a late appeal. Payment and appeal are separate issues, so check both immediately.
Start by identifying exactly what HMRC sent
“Reassessment notice” is not a precise legal category. Read the heading, issue date, tax year, tax calculation and appeal instructions on the document. The route depends on whether HMRC issued an assessment, amended a return, a closure notice, a determination, a penalty or only a payment demand.
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Tax decisions that can lead to an appeal
- Assessment or discovery assessment: HMRC says additional tax is due, sometimes because it discovered an underpayment after examining information.
- Amendment: HMRC changes figures in a return.
- Closure notice: HMRC closes an enquiry and states the resulting adjustment.
- Determination: HMRC calculates an amount where a required return or information was not supplied.
Documents that need a different route
- Penalty notice: a penalty has its own appeal instructions. The official SA370 form is for Self Assessment late-filing and late-payment penalties; it is not a general form for disputing an income-tax assessment.
- Bill or payment demand: this tells you what to pay but may not itself be the appealable decision. Find the underlying assessment or notice.
Record the decision title, reference, tax year and issue date. Keep the envelope, electronic delivery record and every page. If the decision is unclear, ask HMRC which decision and appeal procedure applies, but do not wait for an answer before protecting your position.
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Know which deadline you missed
| Issue | Rule | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| Direct-tax appeal to HMRC | Normally 30 days from the date the formal decision notice was issued, according to HMRC’s ARTG2180 guidance. | When your written notice of disagreement should reach HMRC. |
| Late appeal request | HMRC may admit an appeal out of time when there was a reasonable excuse and the appeal was made without unreasonable delay after that excuse ended. | Whether HMRC accepts your late notice. |
| Tribunal notification after HMRC refusal | A late tribunal notification needs permission and an explanation. The tribunal applies its own case-specific, interests-of-justice discretion. | Whether the tribunal allows the appeal to proceed. |
| Tribunal notification after an HMRC review | HMRC’s manual identifies 30 days from the review conclusion letter for tribunal notification. | The time to notify the tribunal after the review stage. |
| Tax charged by a discovery assessment | HMRC says payment is due 30 days after the assessment notice is given. | When payment is due, not when an appeal must be filed. |
| Discovery-assessment validity | Periods can be four years, six years, 12 years or up to 20 years, depending on conduct and qualifying offshore circumstances. | Whether HMRC issued the assessment within its statutory power. |
| Opening an enquiry | For a return delivered on time, HMRC generally has 12 months from delivery to give notice of an enquiry. Late returns follow a different quarter-day rule. | When HMRC may start an enquiry, not your appeal deadline. |
The ordinary appeal clock runs from the issue date printed on the formal decision, not automatically from the day you opened or received it. If delivery was delayed, state both dates and provide proof; the issue date remains the starting point unless a specific rule for that decision says otherwise.
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Send HMRC a late-appeal request now
Make the request in writing using the address, online channel or other method stated on the decision. Label it as a request to admit a late appeal and name the decision you challenge. Include the appeal grounds as well as the explanation for lateness: HMRC needs to know both why the procedure was missed and why the tax decision is wrong.
- Identify the decision. State the notice title, reference, tax year, issue date and amount in dispute. Say clearly that you disagree with that decision and wish to appeal.
- Set out a short chronology. Give the issue date, when you actually received or accessed it, when the obstacle arose, when it ended, and the date you are making the request. Use calendar dates rather than phrases such as “recently.”
- Explain the reasonable excuse. Describe the event or condition that prevented a timely appeal and how it affected your ability to act. Explain why alternative arrangements were not reasonably available, if relevant to your facts.
- Show when the excuse ended. HMRC’s test has a second limb: you must have acted without unreasonable delay after the obstacle ended. Explain the first practical steps you took and why the current date follows promptly from them.
- Attach evidence. Include documents that support the chronology and the obstacle, such as delivery records, medical evidence, correspondence, professional records or other contemporaneous material. Send copies and keep the originals.
- State the substantive grounds. Explain the calculation, legal basis, factual error or procedural objection that makes the assessment wrong. A detailed tax argument is not a substitute for explaining the late filing, and a personal explanation is not a substitute for challenging the assessment.
- Ask for confirmation. Request written confirmation that HMRC has admitted the appeal, or a written decision if it refuses. Keep proof of sending and a complete copy of everything submitted.
What HMRC is deciding
HMRC’s published test is not a general “I did not know” exception. It asks whether your particular circumstances amounted to a reasonable excuse for missing the period and whether you acted promptly once that excuse ended. The evidence, duration and surrounding facts matter, so no general list can guarantee acceptance.
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Build evidence that explains the whole delay
Organise evidence in date order so an officer can follow the story without guessing. A one-page chronology is useful:
- date the formal notice was issued;
- date and method of actual receipt or access;
- date the problem began;
- what prevented an appeal, and for how long;
- date the problem ended or you became able to act;
- each step taken afterward, including calls, requests for records and the eventual appeal.
Explain gaps. For example, if illness ended on one date but the appeal was sent later, account for the intervening period. If an agent, household member or authorised representative handled correspondence, explain what they received and when you became aware of the decision. Do not exaggerate or provide unsupported conclusions; attach the underlying records and let the chronology show the delay.
If HMRC refuses the late appeal
A refusal does not necessarily end the dispute. Ask the relevant tax tribunal to consider permission for a late appeal. HMRC’s ARTG2240 guidance states that the tribunal is not limited by the reasonable-excuse conditions and can accept a late appeal where it considers that to be in the interests of justice.
Prepare the tribunal request
- Use the current tribunal notification form or procedure specified for the tax decision. Follow the instructions in force when you apply.
- Attach the HMRC decision, your original late-appeal request, HMRC’s refusal and the substantive grounds of appeal.
- Explain precisely how late the tribunal notification is and why permission should be granted. Include the same chronology, but address any additional delay after HMRC’s refusal.
- Identify prejudice and fairness factors relevant to your case without assuming that they guarantee permission. The tribunal decides on the particular facts and may invite HMRC to make representations.
- Observe any deadline printed for the procedural stage. After an HMRC review, the manual identifies a 30-day period from the review conclusion letter for tribunal notification; a late notification still needs a permission request and explanation.
The tribunal’s interests-of-justice approach is distinct from HMRC’s reasonable-excuse test. Reaching the tribunal does not automatically suspend collection, validate the assessment or guarantee a hearing on the tax merits.
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Keep payment and collection separate from the appeal
Do not assume that asking for a late appeal pauses payment. HMRC says tax charged by a discovery assessment is due 30 days after the assessment notice is given. The notice may state a different or additional consequence for the specific decision, so read it carefully and ask HMRC what collection action applies while your late-appeal request is considered.
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In every communication, distinguish the amount you dispute from any amount you accept. Keep records of payments, demands and conversations. A payment date, an appeal date and a tribunal date are separate procedural clocks; meeting one does not meet the others.
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Check whether HMRC issued the assessment in time
An appeal can challenge not only the figures but also HMRC’s legal power to issue the assessment. HMRC’s discovery-assessment periods generally vary as follows:
| Situation described by HMRC guidance | Indicative period | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Loss of tax without careless or deliberate behaviour | Four years | The statutory basis and facts must fit this category. |
| Careless loss of tax | Six years | Whether conduct was careless is fact-specific. |
| Specified offshore matters or transfers | 12 years | Only qualifying offshore circumstances attract this period. |
| Deliberate behaviour or certain failures | Up to 20 years | The longer period depends on the statutory condition being met. |
These are not alternative appeal deadlines. If you believe the assessment was made outside the applicable period, raise that objection in your appeal against the assessment and explain the relevant return, tax year and dates. HMRC’s published time limits do not establish which category applies to an individual case.
Do not confuse an enquiry deadline with an appeal
HMRC generally has 12 months from delivery of an on-time return to notify an enquiry. A late return is subject to a different quarter-day rule. That deadline governs the opening of an enquiry; it does not set the period for appealing an assessment, amendment or closure notice that follows.
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A practical action checklist
- Put the notice, envelope or electronic record and tax return together.
- Write down the decision title, issue date, tax year, reference and amount.
- Mark the ordinary appeal date and the payment date separately.
- Send HMRC a written late-appeal request without waiting for perfect evidence.
- Explain both the reasonable excuse and the substantive tax grounds.
- Attach evidence, retain copies and record how and when you sent the request.
- Ask for a written decision if HMRC does not admit the appeal.
- If refused, prepare the tribunal permission request immediately and follow the current form instructions.
- Raise any discovery-assessment time-limit objection in the appeal itself.
- Consider advice from a qualified UK tax adviser or tax-dispute specialist when the amount, facts or procedural history is complex.
When specialist advice is particularly important
Professional advice is sensible where the notice alleges deliberate or careless behaviour, involves offshore assets, covers several tax years, follows an enquiry, or threatens immediate recovery. An adviser can analyse the statutory time limit, preserve procedural arguments and present evidence; neither HMRC’s manuals nor this general explanation can predict whether a particular excuse or tribunal application will succeed.
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