CIS appeal - advice

Gem7321

We have received a penalty notice for late filing CIS return. We'd like to appeal as it was our first CIS return and it was a nil return - changes in accounts dept staff meant the return was overlooked.

Has anyone had any luck with a CIS appeal with such a flimsy excuse?

Thanks

Monsoon

Yes, sort of.
Paper CIS returns for Sept-Dec, received 4th December. Enrolled online, service not activated by HMRC til 19th Dec, gateways was down, returns filed on 20th. £1000 of penalties. All got overturned.

Why was that flimsy? Because, having registered for CIS, they should have registered for CIS online and been good to go for the 5th October. Apparently HMRC didn't think of that and their lateness in sending paper returns helped us.

It seems they are pretty lenient in some cases and it's definitely worth trying it.

Gem7321

Thanks Monsoon

I've sent a letter to them today, stating that we simply overlooked the return due to the accounts department being restructured and as soon as the error was brought to our attention we filed the nil return accordingly and I enclosed a copy of the submission receipt. Hopefully they'll let us off as it was our first one so fingers crossed now!

JodieR

I think you'll be alright on this one - I had a client last year who registered himself for CIS and then came to me with 4 CIS returns which he'd not filed and because they were nil returns and the first ones the penalties were removed. I just phoned them up & maybe I got someone in a good mood, but he just did it over the phone, I didn't even need to put the appeal in writing.

Dottie

Hi

Yes, we had a similar case to Jodie. Client new to CIS and a sole trader who thought he could offset his own deductions against the amounts deducted from his subcontractors. The fines amounted to £1600, but we wrote and appealed and all the penalties were waived. Hope you get a good result too.

Dottie