Undue burden

A taxpayer partnership intended to file its 2009/10 partnership tax return digitally but discovered it would have to pay for a commercial software package for the purpose because HMRC did not provide a free alternative

The partnership decided to file a paper return which it submitted by the 31 January cut-off point for online documents but after the 31 October deadline for paper ones.

The Revenue issued a penalty for failing to file a paper return on time. The partnership appealed claiming it had reasonable excuse in that the taxman had failed to provide an appropriate facility for taxpayers required to file their returns online.

The First-tier Tribunal chaired by Geraint Jones QC noted a partnership was required to file online if the relevant return had not been submitted by 31 October but there was ‘no statutory requirement that the taxpayer should equip itself with...