Understandable confusion

A German national worked as a dentist in the UK between January and April 2010 and then returned to her homeland.

In January 2011 HMRC sent her a notice to file a tax return for 2009/10. She submitted the document nine months later.

The Revenue issued a late filing penalty against which the taxpayer appealed. She explained she had not received the notice until June 2011.

The taxpayer asked her German tax adviser for help completing the return but he had insufficient knowledge of the UK tax system meaning she had to engage a UK adviser. The delay had been exacerbated by enquiries from the German tax authorities.

The First-tier Tribunal judge concluded that the situation “involved the understanding of two wholly separate and distinct tax systems” which understandably led to the taxpayer to obtain help from a UK tax adviser and which caused the...