Special circumstances for late filed return

HMRC imposed penalties on the taxpayer because she filed her 2015-16 self-assessment tax return late. She appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal said there was no reasonable excuse for the delay but decided there were special circumstances. The judge said HMRC should have considered other matters besides the taxpayer’s attempts to file her return.

HMRC had misled the taxpayer in three ways:

• by saying that only an unusual or unexpected event could be a reasonable excuse;
• by telling her a review must be requested on a form SA634; and
• by telling her she was out of time to ask for a review.

The judge said each statement was incorrect. The first could have prevented the taxpayer putting forward a properly formulated reasonable excuse. And given she had notified her appeal to the tribunal immediately the second and third probably...