Illness, a mental health condition, a bereavement or caring for someone seriously ill can be a reasonable excuse for an HMRC penalty, if it stopped you meeting the deadline and you acted once you could. What HMRC accept, the evidence that works and how to appeal.
Yes: HMRC can already take money from your bank account without a court order, but normally only for a final tax debt of £1,000 or more, leaving at least £5,000 across your accounts. Why appealing in time matters if you disagree, your deadlines and what Budget 2026 plans.
Nothing in Budget 2026 changes a deadline you face today. Here, in date order, is what does change if you owe HMRC money, have a penalty or are appealing: CGT property return penalties, penalties for personal Self Assessment returns, a duty to correct errors, and which parts are law yet.
Used a disclosed tax scheme and got a discovery assessment years later? In Charlton v HMRC the Upper Tribunal held the returns had already told HMRC enough. Here is when that argument works, why a scheme reference number alone is not enough, and how to raise it in your appeal.
HMRC can make you pay your company's unpaid National Insurance, a company penalty or, by a joint and several liability notice, its tax. Each can be challenged, but where your appeal goes, who must prove what and whether you must pay meanwhile depend on the notice you have.
You can challenge an HMRC underpayment, but the route depends on the letter: ask HMRC to correct a P800, object to a tax code and then appeal it, or query a Simple Assessment within 60 days before appealing. How to check the figures, spread the bill and pay while you dispute it.
HMRC has refused your DIY housebuilder VAT refund claim (VAT431NB or VAT431C) or rejected it as late. Which refusals the tribunal can overturn (planning conditions, disputed items, completion dates), which it cannot, and how to appeal within 30 days.
You cannot appeal an HMRC determination, but filing your return replaces it, and you can dispute a return you have already filed by amending it or claiming overpayment relief. The deadlines for each, special relief if you are out of time, and which HMRC letters you can appeal.
The tax tribunal is not part of HMRC. Who decides your appeal, what the tribunal can and cannot do, what it costs, and how it differs from a court.
Never told HMRC about income or a gain? Schedule 41 penalties run from 0% to 100% of the tax. How the percentage is set, how to cut it, and how to appeal.
You do not need a lawyer to appeal to the tax tribunal: the rules let anyone represent you. A guide to going it alone, the free help that exists (and its limits), how to find and vet a paid adviser, and why the tribunal's Birmingham address does not mean a Birmingham adviser.
A box-by-box walkthrough of Form T240, the First-tier Tribunal (Tax) notice of appeal. What each section wants, which form you actually need, when a T239 is required, and the mistakes that get appeals sent back.