PAYE7530 - Appeals and reviews: end of year penalty appeals: appeals to tribunal

The provisions of TMA70 relating to appeals against assessments are applied to appeals against penalty determinations also by Section 100B, except that the tribunal is given specific powers of variation instead of Section 50(6) - (8).

In relation to penalties such as those under Section 98A(2) (a) which are required to be of a particular amount the tribunal may

• Set the determination aside if it appears to them that no penalty has been incurred (usually because they consider that there was a reasonable excuse)
• Confirm the determination if they consider it to be correct
• Increase or reduce the determination to the correct multiple of £100 (but otherwise they have no power to vary the amount of the determination)

You should try to settle as many penalty appeals as you can without reference to the tribunal, so that it only needs to hear cases of substantial disagreement between yourself and the employer, or those where despite having been given a clear explanation of why the penalty is justified, the employer still refuses to formally withdraw the appeal.