No contest

HMRC barred from participation in appeal

The taxpayer appealed against a £500 penalty imposed by HMRC for a late filed employment intermediary return. It was categorised as a paper appeal before the First-tier Tribunal.

HMRC was notified on 18 April and told to provide a statement of case within 42 days. The deadline passed and on 8 June the tribunal emailed HMRC for a statement of case (with an application for it to be admitted late). No reply was received so in August the tribunal judge issued a direction under rule 8(3)(a). This stated that unless HMRC confirmed it wished to defend the appeal it might be barred from the proceedings. Again HMRC did not reply so in September the tribunal barred it from taking part. As with the previous missives the email was sent to the department’s usual correspondence address...