Late appeal caused by adviser’s error

Barry Cowan provided his services as a tennis commentator to Sky TV through a limited liability partnership in which he was a member. HMRC believed that the intermediaries legislation applied to the arrangements and raised PAYE and National Insurance determinations. The taxpayer appealed.

After a long period of correspondence HMRC issued a ‘view of the matter’ letter to the taxpayer’s agent confirming that it continued to hold the view that IR35 applied. The letter stated: ‘If you disagree with HMRC’s position you have 30 days from the date of this letter within which to either accept my offer of an internal review by replying to this letter or notify the appeal to tribunal.’

The taxpayer’s representative replied within 23 minutes of receiving HMRC’s letter accusing the department of failing to deal with any of the points previously raised but did not respond to the...