13 October 2021 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
HMRC have issued new guidance entitled Civil penalties for contraventions of customs law (Customs Notice 301). (Civil evasion penalty is dealt with separately in the 2013 Notice 300: customs civil investigation of suspected evasion)
The Civil Penalties guidance sets out that the taxes covered by this include:
The maximum penalties provided in law are £2,500 per contravention for the more significant irregularities and £1,000 per contravention for others. The normal progression will be £250, £500, £1,000, with additional steps of £2,000 and £2,500 for the higher maximum.
The guidance appears to indicate that HMRC will use education to start with but that penaties will be considered when faced with "continued non-compliance". A penalty will not usually be issued unless HMRC have issued a warning letter, for a broadly similar irregularity, within the last 2 years, unless the errors are serious (such as import VAT and duty underpayment of £10k, or delayed payment in excess of £25k).
Voluntary disclsoures can be made for underpayment, whereas a C285 needs to be submitted for overpayment. It does not appear that over and under payments can be offset against each other.
The guidance then set out the reasonable excuse, penalty and mitigation and reviews and appeals processes.
