Sympathetic stance

In December 2013 the taxpayer received a notice to file a corporation tax return for 30 November 2013. HMRC claimed the form was not submitted by the deadline of 30 November 2014 and imposed a £500 penalty.

The company said the return had been filed and initially accepted by HMRC. However because it was not in the proper iXBRL format the department asked the taxpayer to re-submit the form and accounts again correctly. Until that was done the company would not have met its filing obligations. The director wrote to HMRC with a copy of the accounts but no return saying the company was having difficulty filing online.

The First-tier Tribunal said the taxpayer had “made reasonable efforts to comply” with its obligations. Further it was “unfortunate” that HMRC had rejected the return. Although the deadline for the return was outside the two-year transitional arrangements...