CCPG27230 - Penalty notice: considering whether to issue a penalty notice: checking whether we are within time limits for a penalty

A penalty may not be issued

• more than three years after the contravention took place
• more than two years after HMRC have sufficient evidence of facts to issue it.

A penalty notice has to satisfy both time limits.

So there are two dates for you to establish.

• When did the contravention take place
• When did we have sufficient evidence of facts to issue a penalty

Once you have identified the dates for the contravention, you can consider whether we are within the time limits to issue a penalty.

You should be mindful of these time limits to make sure that any required action is taken promptly. If a part of large business, ensure consideration is given for time required to discuss and agree action with Customer Compliance Manager (CCM).

Front line managers and CCMs should be mindful of these time limits to ensure required actions are carried out within stated timescales.

Remember the date of consideration is from 3 years prior to the date of issue the Customs Civil Penalty letter or 2 years 11 months from the RTBH letter.

The Civil Penalty refers to contraventions 3 years prior to the issue of the letter.

Failure to issue the Penalty within 3 years of earliest contravention means the debt must be reconsidered to ensure within criteria of penalty value proposed in RTBH.

If either of the time limits has been passed, a penalty cannot be issued. However, you should bring the detail of these contraventions to the trader’s attention and advise them of the corrective action they need to take to make sure similar contraventions do not happen in future. You should then confirm this in a letter of written instruction.