Filing obligation belongs to the taxpayer

In July 2018 the taxpayer bought a property and filed an annual tax on enveloped dwellings return in February 2019 – it should have been filed by the end of July 2018. In November 2019 and January 2020 HMRC issued late filing penalties and the taxpayer appealed against these.

The taxpayer said HMRC’s guidance as to the filing deadline was misleading and gave the impression that the return had to be filed before 1 April 2019. In any event no tax was due and the taxpayer’s legal advisers did not say the ATED return was due.

The First-tier Tribunal said that HMRC’s guidance on the timing of filing a return was ‘unambiguous’ and was in line with the legislation. It was not ‘objectively reasonable’ for the taxpayer to have honestly believed the return was required by April 2019.

Further although the taxpayer may have relied on their legal...