Lack of clear instructions caused filing delay

In October 2018 the taxpayer filed a 2017-18 return. HMRC returned it in December saying it was incomplete because the self-employment and partnership pages were missing. The taxpayer said she did not receive the department’s letter and became aware there was a problem only in February 2019 as result of her husband checking his return which had been affected by the same issue. After further communication the taxpayer filed her return in June 2019. HMRC imposed late filing penalties against which the taxpayer appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal accepted the taxpayer did not realise her return was incomplete until February 2019 when her husband checked – prompted by letters about his own return. The judge was further satisfied that HMRC had not explained properly what the taxpayer needed to do to rectify the situation in that an officer said in a phone call to ‘simply file the self-assessment...