Central assessments were too low

The taxpayer owned a small accessories shop and registered for VAT on 1 February 2018. She said she was unaware of her responsibility to submit quarterly VAT returns and blamed her accountant for not telling her. As a result she filed late returns for the periods March June September and December 2018 instead of accepting low central assessments issued by HMRC. The returns were submitted together in May 2019 which was 11 months late in the case of the March 2018 period.

If a taxpayer does not notify HMRC of the correct tax owed within 30 days of the issue of a central assessment that is too low they are liable to a penalty of up to 30% of the difference between the assessed figure and the actual liability. The taxpayer must have known or should have known that the assessments...