Special circumstances apply

The taxpayer was a managing director of a large company who became ill in June 2010 leading to HMRC accepting his poor health as an excuse for the late filing of his tax return for 2009/10.

He moved into rented accommodation in February 2011 because fire had damaged his home while his business went into administration in March the following year.

The taxpayer filed his 2010/11 tax return by 31 October 2011. HMRC sent him a tax calculation the following month and he noticed it contained a number of errors but did not point them out to the department until April 2012.

An agreement was reached on the money due six months later. The taxpayer asked the Revenue to offset it against the tax he would have overpaid for 2012/13 due to his becoming unemployed as the result of his company’s failure.

He believed HMRC agreed to...