Assumption that HMRC’s emails were spam

The taxpayer submitted his 2016-17 self-assessment tax return late. HMRC imposed late filing penalties (FA 2009 Sch 55). He claimed reasonable excuse on the basis no notice to file had been given to him (TMA 1970 s 8). In June 2016 the taxpayer had agreed to paperless contact with HMRC and provided his email address. HMRC sent him emails alerting him that it had posted messages to his online account including to submit a return. The taxpayer assumed these were spam and deleted them without reading them in full. He did not access his tax account.

The First-tier Tribunal did not accept that the taxpayer had a reasonable excuse. The judges said a reasonable taxpayer ‘with the same level of intelligence and background knowledge’ who had signed up to paperless communications would expect to receive some communication such as coding notices and statements of account ...