Responsibility lies with taxpayer

Reliance on a third party for late submission of a return

The taxpayer was appointed a director of a restaurant in July 2009. She failed to notify HMRC of this until April 2013 breaching the requirement of TMA 1970 s 7 by more than 30 months. HMRC issued a 2012-13 self-assessment return but the taxpayer submitted it 18 months after the due date. The Revenue therefore imposed late filing penalties. The taxpayer made a late appeal which HMRC refused.

The First-tier Tribunal agreed to admit the appeal.

The taxpayer’s main ground of appeal was reliance on her accountant to deal with the return in the allotted time. The tribunal said ‘delegation to the accountant’ did not absolve the taxpayer from the ‘ultimate responsibility’ to submit the return. A reasonable person would have enquired about the progress of the return answered queries that may have held up its filing...