Tax Rights
Personal allowance, self assessment, HMRC investigations, appeals, tax credits, VAT, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax under UK law.
Covered in this guide:
HMRC has to follow the HMRC Charter (statutory under section 16A of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005) — fair treatment, plain explanations, and confidentiality. The procedure runs on the Taxes Management Act 1970, with rates set by the annual Finance Act and the Income Tax Act 2007. Disagree with a decision and you can ask for an internal review, then appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) — usually no costs risk if you lose. PAYE handles most employees; Self Assessment has a hard 31 January deadline and a £100 day-one penalty.
Key Laws
HMRC Charter
Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005, s. 16A
Taxpayer service standards and rights
Taxes Management Act 1970
c. 9
Assessment, enquiries, penalties, enforcement
Income Tax Act 2007
c. 3
Income tax liability, allowances, reliefs
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
c. 15
First-tier Tribunal tax appeals
Personal Tax Allowance
The Personal Allowance is the slice of income you earn each year before any income tax is due. It sits at £12,570 for 2025/26 — and has been frozen at that level since 2021/22 and is set to remain fro...
Self Assessment Tax Returns
Self Assessment is HMRC's parallel system for anyone whose income isn't fully captured by PAYE — the self-employed, company directors, landlords, anyone with significant savings or investment income,...
HMRC Investigation Rights
An HMRC enquiry — what most people call an investigation — is the formal process by which HMRC checks whether your return is accurate. There are two flavours:Aspect enquiry: a single line being checke...
Right to Appeal Tax Decisions
HMRC isn't the last word. Every assessment, penalty, and refusal carries a statutory right of challenge — and the architecture is more taxpayer-friendly than most people realise. The structure has two...
Tax Credits and Benefits
Tax-side benefits in the UK have been quietly shifting for a decade. The legacy Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit are being closed and merged into Universal Credit; tax cliff-edges (notably the...
VAT Rights
VAT is the UK's biggest behind-the-scenes tax — quietly accounting for around a sixth of all government revenue. For a business, the key thresholds are simple in principle and unforgiving in practice....
Capital Gains Tax
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) hits the profit you make when you sell — or "dispose of" — an asset that has gone up in value. It catches:Property that isn't your main home (buy-to-lets, second home...
Inheritance Tax
Inheritance Tax catches a small minority of estates but the ones it catches feel it heavily — 40% on the slice above the threshold. The thresholds have been frozen since 2009, which means rising house...