Notice of Decision and your Right to Appeal

A person appointed by the Treasury, referred to as a ‘Contribution Decision-maker’, can make formal decisions on specified issues relating to National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and related matters.

We will normally ask you about your circumstances and other relevant facts and from that information we will consider how the law applies to your case and explain that to you. Where you do not agree with our explanation you should write to us with any further facts that you have not told us about or if you think that we did not take some piece of information into account. We will write to you either to say that we agree that the further information changes how the law applies or to explain why it does not affect our original explanation.

If agreement cannot be reached we will make a formal decision about the matter and you will receive a ‘Notice of Decision’ which you have the right of appeal against within 30 days of the date of issue. If you think the decision is wrong you should appeal against it at once. Let us have any further information you have and we may be able to vary the decision.

The appeals procedure is laid down by law and provides a method for disagreements between you and the Treasury to be settled. Most appeals concern disagreements over interpretations of the law or over facts, information or figures you have provided.

Usually agreement is reached by correspondence or discussion and in most cases we will be able to settle the matter with you personally. However, if we disagree with you on a point of law, or if we cannot accept the facts, figures or information you have provided, you can take your appeal to the Appeal Tribunal, which is independent of the Treasury.

A guide to Notice of Decision and the Right to Appeal (Guidance Note 60) is available on the Guidance Note page. If you decide that you want to appeal a decision made by our Contribution Decision-maker, please use form ‘R258 - Notice of Decision – Appeal’ that can be found on the National Insurance Forms page.