Disagree with a VAT tax decision 

This article is written by Mr Shahzad Tariq, solicitor dealing in certain tax issues. Mr Tariq is the Head of Immigration and Litigation at West London Solicitors. You can contact Mr Tariq directly on tariq@westlondonsolicitors.com

HMRC decision letter

The HMRC decision letter will tell you what to do if you disagree with the decision. You will usually have 30 days from the date of the decision letter to either appeal or accept a review. If you miss the deadline, a late application can be made however you will need to provide a reasonable excuse.

HMRC review

A review is a good option. Reviews are usually quicker than appeals to the tax tribunal. It is also an opportunity for you to gather additional information to address the issues raised within the decision letter. Your review application will be looked by someone in a different team who was not involved in the original decision. This is also known as a statutory review.

HMRC review decision

Following the review the HMRC will either:

• uphold the decision (the original decision is unchanged)
• vary the decision (the original decision has changed)
• cancel the decision

Appeal to the tax tribunal

You must appeal to the tribunal within the time limit. How to appeal against a decision depends on if its direct or indirect tax. If you disagree with the result of the review you can appeal to the tax tribunal. You must usually do this within 30 days of the date of the review result. You can apply for Alternative Dispute Resolution, or ADR. ADR may help to clarify the issues and resolve the dispute without the need for further litigation.

Payment of the disputed tax

Normally you must pay the disputed tax before any appeal can be heard by the tribunal. If paying would cause you hardship you may ask for your appeal to be heard without payment of the tax.

HMRC Hardship application

This article deals with VAT which is an indirect tax. A separate application will have to be submitted to the relevant HMRC indirect tax hardship department seeking an agreement to proceed with the appeal without payment or deposit of the disputed tax on the grounds of hardship. If your application is refused, you can submit the same application in the tribunal to be heard by an independent judge.

Note: The author acknowledges that the source of information is https://www.gov.uk/ website. Additionally, the article contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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