Model taxpayer

The case of Lomas (TC2010) concerned a £100 fixed penalty for the late submission of Ms Lomas’s paper tax return for the year ended 5 April 2010.

The First-tier Tribunal concluded that HMRC had waived the requirement for a return to be made electronically and found as a result that the taxpayer had a reasonable excuse for filing her paper return late.

However it seems on a study of the facts of the case that Ms Lomas’s return had been submitted on time and therefore the judge need not have devised such a creative and in the light of the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Hok questionable but not necessarily incorrect solution to the case in the name of fairness.

The main facts of the case were not contested. The most important piece of information was that on 10 January 2011 ...