How to appeal online against a Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) late-filing penalty using the Penalty and Appeals Service (PAS).
What is the change?
From 16 June 2015 contractors and their authorised representatives will be able to use HMRC’s Online Penalty Appeal Service (PAS) to make an electronic appeal against CIS late-filing penalties. PAS will display the penalty details.
HMRC recommends that contractors and representatives (using options in PAYE/CIS Online) sign up for this service online, because it will be the quickest, easiest and most straightforward way to make an appeal. It promises to deal with the appeal online promptly and provide contractors or their representatives with an immediate acknowledgement. Only if the appeal is not accepted will it be referred for further review to an HMRC officer.
How to make an appeal
To make an online appeal, contractors or their agents should:
- Go into the PAYE/CIS Online section of Online Services
- Select ‘Appeal a Penalty’. Agents will find their clients’ details under ‘your current clients’
- ‘Appeal a Penalty’ will list all the penalties that can be appealed, showing the:
– Unique ID (shown on the penalty notice)
– Type of penalty
– Issue date (shown on the penalty notice)
– Tax (Return) period end date
– Amount of penalty
- Select the Unique ID as shown on the penalty notice for the penalty that you wish to appeal.
What will be displayed if there are no penalties to appeal?
It will tell you if there are no penalties that can be appealed, by stating either ‘You do not currently have any penalties that can be appealed’ or if you are a representative, ‘Your client does not currently have any penalties that can be appealed’.
How am I told if the appeal is successful?
Once the appeal has been processed a generic notice will be issued; check the generic notice for the result of the appeal. These notices can be accessed through the ‘generic notices’ which is the option below the ‘appeal a penalty’ option.
To avoid receiving a CIS late-filing penalty please ensure contractor monthly returns are submitted by the 19th of every month.
Article contributed by ACCA In Practice