An appeal against penalties for the late payment of accelerated payment notices was dismissed as HMRC’s conclusion letters amounted to determinations for the purposes of the relevant legislation. 

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued the appellant with accelerated payment notices (APNs) for the tax years 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08. The appellant sent written representations to HMRC objecting to the amounts specified in the APNs. On 15 January 2016, HMRC wrote a letter to the appellant explaining that HMRC had considered the appellant’s representations and reviewed available information in coming to its conclusion. This amended the amount under the APN for 2007/08 and set out the ‘Next Steps’ explaining that the amount confirmed as payable must be paid by 19 February 2016. 

On 12 February 2016, the appellant wrote to HMRC regarding the 2005/06 and 2006/07 APNs, pointing out that an HMRC letter of 15 January had