Responsible taxpayer

Proof of posting of tax return

HMRC imposed penalties on the taxpayer for failing to submit her 2011-12 tax return on time. She appealed saying she had posted a paper form in May 2012 well before the 31 October deadline for these. After receiving the penalties she filed the return online on 9 July 2013.

The First-tier Tribunal accepted the taxpayer’s evidence of posting. She produced a signed-for slip bearing the correct HMRC address and post office date stamp. She had done what was expected and behaved ‘as a reasonable taxpayer’.

The judge said:

‘The fact that the bar-coded unique reference on the signed-for slip could not according to HMRC be located on the Royal Mail and Parcelforce track and trace system is not evidence that it had not been posted. The fact that the code did not appear on track and trace is nothing more...