(1)A benefit officer may by notice in writing notify a person who is taxable under section 27 above of the amount on which he is taxable and any such notification shall state the date on which it is issued and shall inform the person to whom it is given that he may object to the notification by notice in writing given within sixty days after the date of issue of the notification.
(2)Where—
(a)no objection is made to a notification of an amount under subsection (1) above within the period specified in that subsection (or such further period as may be allowed by virtue of subsection (5) below); or
(b)an objection is made but is withdrawn by the objector by a notice in writing,
that amount shall not be questioned in any appeal against any assessment in respect of income including that amount.
(3)Where an objection is made to a notification of an amount under subsection (1) above within the period specified in that subsection (or such further period as may be allowed by virtue of subsection (5) below) and the benefit officer and the objector come to an agreement that the amount notified should be varied in a particular manner and the benefit officer confirms the agreement to vary in writing, then, subject to subsection (4) below, that amount as so varied shall not be questioned in any appeal against any assessment in respect of income including that amount.
(4)Subsection (3) above shall not apply if within sixty days from the date when the agreement was come to the objector gives notice in writing to the benefit officer that he wishes to repudiate or resile from the agreement.
(5)An objection to a notification may be made later than sixty days after the date of the issue of the notification if on an application for the purpose a benefit officer is satisfied that there was a reasonable excuse for not objecting within that time and the objection was made thereafter without unreasonable delay and he gives consent in writing; and if the benefit officer is not so satisfied he shall refer the application for determination by the General Commissioners for the division in which the objector ordinarily resides or, in a case where an appeal has been made against an assessment in respect of income including the amount in question, the General Commissioners or the Special Commissioners having jurisdiction in that appeal.
(6)Where a benefit officer has notified an amount to a person under subsection (1) above, he may by another notice in writing notify the person of an alteration in the amount previously notified and, if he does so, the original notification shall be cancelled and this section shall apply to such a subsequent notification as it applies to the original notification.
(7)In this section " benefit officer " means—
(a)in Great Britain, the appropriate officer of the Department of Employment or of the Department of Health and Social Security, as the case may be; and
(b)in Northern Ireland, the appropriate officer of the Department of Health and Social Services.