Automated notices from HMRC are valid

The taxpayer had failed to file his 2012-13 self-assessment tax return but he had previously disclosed a chargeable gain for the year in a letter to HMRC and had made a voluntary prepayment. HMRC raised a discovery assessment and imposed late filing penalties. These penalties did not take account either that payment or other payments on account made by the taxpayer for 2012-13.

The First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal.

The taxpayer appealed to the Court of Appeal. He said the Upper Tribunal had erred in holding that FA 2020 s 103 removed the need for HMRC to prove the involvement of an ‘officer of the board’ in the giving of a notice requiring the submission of a tax return and whether penalty assessments satisfied the relevant statutory requirements.

Lady Justice Asplin in the Court of Appeal disagreed with the taxpayer. She said s 103...