Tax Credits: Appealable decisions
Although tax credits ended on 5 April 2025 and there are no live tax credit awards after that date, HMRC will continue to deal with tax credit matters, including appeals, disputes, official error and complaints.
Not all tax credit decisions carry a right to mandatory reconsideration or appeal. If a decision isn’t appealable you may want to consider the dispute process, official error or a complaint.
Rights of appeal are granted by statute against (TCA 2002, s 38(1)):
- An initial decision on a claim for tax credit (s 14(1));
- A revised decision on reporting a change of circumstances (s 15(1));
- Any other revised in-year decision altering or terminating an award (s 16(1));
- An end-of-year decision leading to a final award (s 18(1) for reply-required cases or (6) for auto-renewal cases);
- A decision following an enquiry (s 19(3));
- The continuation of an enquiry (appellant may ask for a direction that HMRC must give a closure notice – s 19(9), (10);
- A decision on a discovery (s 20(1) – revision of income tax liability, or s 20(4) – fraud or neglect of claimant or representative);
- A decision under regulations made under s 21;
- The determination of a penalty by HMRC (Sch 2, para 1);
- A decision under section 36A or 36C that working tax credit is not payable (or is not payable for a particular period); and
- A decision to charge interest on an overpayment (s 37(1)).
There is no right of appeal against an administrative decision in relation to the recovery of an overpayment, nor against the issue of a notice under s 14(2), 15(2) or 16(3).
Note also procedure for settling an appeal under Taxes Management Act 1970 s 54 applies to tax credit appeals.
One noticeable absence from the list above is a right of appeal against a decision by HMRC to recover an overpayment. Using the appeal rights above, a claimant can challenge a decision by HMRC that led to an overpayment and, if successful, that decision can be reversed establishing that there is in fact no overpayment (or it is less than the original amount).
However, if there is in fact an overpayment (the claimant has received more than their entitlement), there is no right of appeal against HMRC’s decision to recover this overpayment.
Statements Like an Award Notice (SLANs)
There are some points in the traditional annual cycle of a tax credit award where HMRC issue a letter to a claimant which looks like a decision notice but which is actually not about a formal decision.
These letters were referred to as SLANs or a statement like an award notice.
They were issued in the following circumstances:
- During the normal renewals period - that is, after the end of the tax year (ie after 5 April) but before HMRC have made a final decision on entitlement for that tax year and HMRC are amending the provisional payments. Note, there is no renewal period in 2025 as tax credits ended on 5 April 2025.
- Upon completion of renewal/finalisation but there is an outstanding appeal - that is, where a claimant has appealed against an earlier decision and the appeal remains outstanding HMRC's IT system cannot issue a final decision on the award because it is inhibited until the appeal is resolved.
- After the renewals period where the claimant has not renewed their appeal - that is, after 31 July (or individual first specified date, if a different date is used) and HMRC have paid provisional payments during the renewal period but the claimant was required to make a declaration to HMRC by the first specified date (standard first specified date being 31 July) and they have failed to do so. HMRC cannot issue a formal decision notice covering the provisional payments because there is no claim associated with the payments, therefore a SLAN is issued.
According to HMRC, SLANs do not carry formal appeal rights as they are not notices of any statutory decision (which do carry appeal rights). But they are used by HMRC to convey something that, from a claimant's perspective, looks like a decision about a tax credit award.
There are occasions where a claimant wants to challenge the 'decision' that HMRC have made which resulted in the SLAN. Although SLANs do not state that there is a right of appeal, it is not unusual for the appeal process to progress against a SLAN.
There is some case law which discusses whether or not a claimant can appeal a decision communicated via a SLAN.
In particular, CTC/993/2016 makes the case that there are occasions where a SLAN can be treated as if it were notification of a formal decision notice - in this particular case, HMRC's decision making was unclear and it could not be shown that a formal decision notice was ever correctly issued, therefore the appeal proceeded against the SLAN.
In CTC/1544/2015 it was determined that the SLAN could not be treated as if it were a formal decision notice because, in the circumstances of the case, there was no legal basis for a lawful decision to be made in the circumstances regardless of how it was notified.
The current position is that it is not possible to say with any certainty whether a particular SLAN can be appealed or not. It is advisable for a claimant to seek specialist welfare rights advice. In the interim, until advice can be obtained, claimants should submit an appeal through the normal appeal route, in order to ensure any appeal time limits are met.
There is some information in HMRC's manuals about SLANs:
Last reviewed/updated 11 May 2025