Accountant’s ill father is special circumstances

The taxpayers lived in South Africa and received rental income from UK property. In April 2018 HMRC sent them notices to file a return for 2017-18. In June 2019 the taxpayers sent the information necessary for their completion to their UK accountant. However due his father being seriously ill and having to spend a lot of his time with him the accountant became behind with his clients’ affairs. He submitted the taxpayers’ returns in August 2019. HMRC issued late filing penalties and the taxpayers appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal noted that the taxpayers sent the information for the returns after the due date. They explained the delay was because the accountant had not sent them a reminder – as he normally would have done. The judge said the taxpayers had not taken reasonable care in this respect so there was no reasonable excuse for their failure to...