Appeal a Self Assessment penalty for late filing or late payment (2024)

When you will be issued with a penalty

HMRC will send you a penalty notice if you miss thedeadlinefor either:

• sending in your tax return
• paying your Self Assessment tax on time

If you do not agree that a penalty is due, you can appeal against it to HMRC.

You should considerpaying the penaltyif you appeal. If you do not, and your appeal is rejected, you’ll have to pay interest on the penalty from the date it was due to the date you paid it.

If we do agree your appeal, we’ll repay what you’ve paid back to you with interest from the date you paid it (if you do not have any other outstanding tax to pay).

If you do not need to submit a tax return

You can ask us to cancel a penalty if you do not need to send us a Self Assessment tax return.

You can also check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return.

Before you start

You’ll need:

• the date the penalty was issued
• the date you filed your Self Assessment tax return (if you have submitted it)
• the date you paid your tax (if you have paid it)
• details of your reasonable excuse for filing your return late, or not making your payment on time

How to appeal

Use this tool to appeal a Self Assessment penalty for late filing or late payment.

You will be able to either:

• make your appeal online — so HMRC will get it straight away
• download form SA370 or SA371 to appeal by post

Start now

After you submit your appeal

Find outwhen you can expect to receive a reply from HMRC to a query or request you’ve made.

You can ask for thedecision to be reviewedif you do not agree with the outcome.