Frustration with HMRC and SEISS review

Frustration as HMRC SEISS review has rejected my claim

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Has anyone else experienced frustration in trying to resolve issues with HMRC who have rejected a claim for SEISS in their review letter?

My problem relates to me and has arisen because HMRC are not recognising brought forward propertry losses in their calculation of non trading income. If brought forward losses are included I am eligible for SEISS if they are not included I am not eligible. This is the only item in the equation that is creating the problem.

L&P income was included in Box 13 of UKP1 of my 18/19 return; losses brought forward were inclueded in Box 14 and net property income was included in Box 15.

I spoke to HMRC yesterday on the 0800 0241 222 number and the technician said there would be a means of appeal when the review letter arrived. He agreed that in his view having looked at the numbers I was eligible. The review letter arrived today advising that I was not eligible (because non trading income was too high - L&P income included but L&P losses excluded). There was no means of appeal or any link just advice to call 0800 0241 222 again (ground hog day!) which I did but all they could say was that someone would call me back.

Has anyone had any success in appealing against a review decision?

Replies (6)

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By Rammstein1
03rd Jun 2020 10:43

I don't know anything about appealing but when did the losses arise? If they were from before 16/17 I think they should be ignored for the SEISS.

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By cohen
03rd Jun 2020 10:48

The rules says that brought forward losses are excluded. You are therefore not eligible. No amount of appealing will get HMRC to change the rules just for you.

Unfair perhaps, but the rules are clear.

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By Tim Vane
03rd Jun 2020 11:05

Both you and the “technician” at HMRC need to read the rules. Total Income for SEISS purposes is that given in s23 ITA 2007. That excludes brought forward property losses. You are perhaps confusing the definition of total income with that for net income which is defined in the same section but which is irrelevant for the purposes of SEISS.

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By anneaccountant
03rd Jun 2020 13:05

Thanks for the feedback. That appears to be bad news. I must admit I've tried to find how and where HMRC define income for these puropses and to be honest I can't find where they refer to Total Income for SEISS. I looked at S23 ITA 2007 as suggested by Tim and the definition of Total Income but I can't find where HMRC say that is the definition they will use for SEISS. Are the deductions in Step 2 of S23 ignored for these purposes?
The property was a furnished holiday let in the EU and it made a loss in pretty much every year I owned it. However I sold it in late 2018 and the profit on the property in that year was basically the capital allowance balancing charge; on the tax return I was able to set the brought forward losses against this balancing charge so Box 15 on the tax return showed NIL for taxable L&P profit for the year (Box 13 less Box 14).
If HMRC don't take the losses into account it tips the non trading income just above the trading profits by a couple of thousand for the 3 years 2016 to 2019.
Sounds like it may be bad luck on this one!

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Replying to anneaccountant:
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By Matrix
03rd Jun 2020 13:39

I thought you could look at 2018-19 in isolation? You must have still had a majority of non SE income.

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Replying to anneaccountant:
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By Wanderer
03rd Jun 2020 13:15

anneaccountant wrote:

I must admit I've tried to find how and where HMRC define income for these puropses and to be honest I can't find where they refer to Total Income for SEISS.

For SEISS “total income” has the meaning given by section 989 of ITA 2007;
which points you to:-
“total income” has the meaning given by section 23 (see Step 1 in that section and also section 31),
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