Income tax returns filed but not signed by taxpayer

The taxpayer was a self-employed subcontractor who engaged K as his agent. HMRC raised discovery assessments and penalties in respect of the years 2011-12 to 2013-14 and 2015-16. The taxpayer appealed. He said he had acted responsibly and his agent had disappeared without leaving him or HMRC any documentation.

The First-tier Tribunal held that the discovery assessments were valid. It would not have been obvious from the returns that there was an insufficiency of tax.

On the taxpayer’s behaviour, the tribunal found him to be ‘careless’. He did not check the returns or the expenditure claimed. There was no evidence of the documents he gave to his agent and it was not clear how the returns were filed without the taxpayer having signed them.

The agent had also acted carelessly by not providing the returns to the taxpayer to check.

The taxpayer’s appeal was dismissed.

Issue: 4785 / Categories: Tax cases