Readers' forum: No excuse?

A couple of years ago I resigned as tax agent for a retired couple Mr and Mrs X. Their affairs were relatively straightforward and they did not need to pay me to file returns for them.

The husband’s main income was a share of rent on properties that his wife had originally owned but had been put in joint names so she always felt that his income was closely related to hers and she used to do paperwork for both of them.

Recently Mrs X contacted me for help with a problem. Her husband died in an accident in October 2017. Naturally she was upset and a little disorganised by this. It was only when she came to file her own tax return on 31 January 2018 that she realised that HMRC expected a self-assessment return from her late husband as well. By...