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Letters from United Kingdom: what each one means
The letters an official body from the UK actually sends — what each one means, the deadline that runs, and what happens if you ignore it.
Tax
- Simple Assessment (PA302)A Simple Assessment is a tax bill from HMRC for Income Tax that cannot be collected automatically through PAYE. Unlike a P800 it is a formal demand for payment with a legal deadline, and the figures can only be queried within 60 days.
- Notice to complete a tax return (SA316)The SA316 is HMRC's formal notice that a Self Assessment tax return is expected from you for the stated tax year. Once served, the duty to file exists even if you believe you owe no tax — unless HMRC agrees to withdraw the notice.
- Late tax return: Notice of penalty assessment (SA326D)The SA326D is the automatic penalty notice HMRC issues when a Self Assessment return was not filed by the deadline. The first notice charges a fixed £100 — even if no tax was owed — and can be paid or appealed within 30 days.
- Tax calculation (P800)A P800 is a letter from HMRC saying it has recalculated your Income Tax for a past tax year and found you paid too much or too little through PAYE. It is not a bill in itself: it either announces a refund or explains how underpaid tax will be collected.
- Tax Code Notice (P2, PAYE Coding Notice)A P2 explains your PAYE tax code — the code your employer or pension provider uses to work out how much tax to take from your pay. It is informational — nothing to pay — but a wrong code changes every payslip.
- Letter about money or assets abroad ('nudge letter')A 'nudge letter' says HMRC has information suggesting you may have overseas income or gains that were not declared for UK tax. It is not an accusation or a formal enquiry: it asks you to review your tax affairs and either confirm they are correct or make a disclosure.
- Revenue determination (determination under section 28C, Taxes Management Act 1970)A revenue determination is HMRC's own estimate of the tax you owe, made because a Self Assessment return was required and never filed. It cannot be appealed. The only mechanism that replaces the figure is filing the actual return, within a time limit.
- SA302 tax calculationAn SA302 is a summary of the Income Tax calculation from a Self Assessment return you already filed. It is an informational record and evidence of your earnings — it demands nothing.
- Welcome to Self Assessment (SA250)The SA250 is HMRC's confirmation that you are now registered for Self Assessment. It carries your 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) and is not a bill — but it marks the start of your duty to file returns when asked.
Debt collection
- Notice of EnforcementAn enforcement agent cannot simply turn up. The law makes it warn you first, and that warning is this letter. What it buys you is a short, fixed window — and the only things that use it are payment, an arrangement, or an application to the court that issued the warrant.
- Letter of Claim (Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims)A business has to send this before it can take you to county court over a debt. What it hands you is thirty days and a form. Return the form and the matter stays out of court; ignore it and a claim can be issued on day thirty-one.
- Statutory DemandThis is not a court order and no judge has seen it. What it does is set up a bankruptcy petition: once three weeks pass with it neither paid nor set aside, the law treats you as unable to pay. The window to challenge it is shorter still — eighteen days.
- HMRC debt management letter (payment demand)This letter comes from HMRC's Debt Management operation demanding payment of an overdue tax bill. It follows earlier bills that went unpaid and is the stage before enforcement — HMRC states it will first try to agree an affordable way to pay.
Court
- Claim Form (N1) — county court money claimA Claim Form (N1) is a formal court claim that someone says you owe them money. It is not yet a judgment: there is a short window to pay, admit or defend. Doing nothing hands the claimant an automatic county court judgment (CCJ) against you.
- Single Justice Procedure Notice (SJPN)An SJPN is a criminal charge for a minor offence — no TV licence, fare evasion, many motoring offences — decided by a single magistrate reading the papers instead of a court hearing. It looks bureaucratic but it is a real prosecution: 21 days to respond, and the case is decided with or without your input.
Traffic
- Notice of Intended Prosecution and Section 172 noticeTwo things arrive in one envelope: a warning that a driving offence may be prosecuted, and a legal demand to say who was at the wheel. The second one is the dangerous half.
- Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)A PCN is a civil penalty from a council or Transport for London for a parking or traffic contravention — wrong parking, a bus lane, the congestion charge, a yellow box. It is not from the police. Paying early usually reduces it; ignoring it increases it by half and ends in a court order.
- DVLA Late Licensing Penalty (LLP) / Out of Court Settlement (OCS) letterThis is an automatic DVLA letter because its register shows your vehicle as untaxed and not declared off-road (SORN). A Late Licensing Penalty of £80 applies to an unlicensed record; if the vehicle was actually used or kept on a road untaxed, an Out of Court Settlement is offered instead.
Social insurance
Broadcast fee
Municipal
- Magistrates' court summons for unpaid Council Tax / liability orderAfter reminders and a final notice go unpaid, the council issues a court summons and asks magistrates for a liability order — 'a legal demand for payment' of the Council Tax debt. The hearing decides only whether you are liable, not whether you can afford to pay.
- Council Tax reminder notice / final noticeA reminder notice comes from your council because a monthly Council Tax instalment was missed. It gives 7 days to pay. Paying within that time ends the matter; not paying costs you the right to instalments and makes the whole year's bill due.