Exemplary effort

Reasonable excuse for late tax return

The taxpayer left the UK with his family to work in Vietnam for a few years and notified HMRC of his departure. He and his wife let their UK home for a short period in 2010-11  resulting in income of £1 901 each in that year. As required by HMRC the couple had registered as non-resident landlords using form NRL1.

After checking HMRC’s website the taxpayer decided neither he nor his wife needed to submit a 2010-11 tax return because their personal allowances more than covered the income. But in 2011-12 their rental income exceeded the personal allowance so they filed returns.

HMRC later imposed late filing penalties for the 2010-11 return. The taxpayer appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal said: ‘Given the above facts and the almost exemplary way the appellant dealt with his tax affairs it was difficult for the tribunal to see what...