Application to make a late appeal

The taxpayer applied for permission to make late appeals to HMRC against assessments and penalties for the years 2004-05 to 2012-13. On the date of the hearing before the First-tier Tribunal the taxpayer did not attend and was not represented. The clerk telephone the taxpayer who said he was unaware the hearing had been scheduled for that day and if the information had been emailed it may have gone into his spam folder. He was in any event unable to attend.

The tribunal noted the original date for the hearing had been postponed also on the ground that the email to the taxpayer had gone into his spam folder. The judges decided that he should have been known to check his spam folder. Further the taxpayer’s attendance at another hearing was not guaranteed given ‘a complete lack of co-operation’ with HMRC’s compliance check. They concluded...