No record of department’s letter about the high income child benefit charge

In 2019 HMRC wrote to the taxpayer telling him he was liable to the high income child benefit charge for the years 2012-13 to 2017-18. It raised assessments and imposed penalties. The taxpayer engaged an agent to assist but appealed against the penalties.

He said he was unaware of the charge and not received the generic SA252 letter sent to taxpayers in 2013. Had he done so he would have kept it as he did all other HMRC correspondence about his coding. For the years assessed the taxpayer had paid tax on his earnings through PAYE and believed HMRC ‘was accurately using information from all available sources in a timely manner’. The department had access not only to his income but also to his wife’s child benefit claim. Further HMRC had waited six years before bringing the matter to his attention.

The First-tier Tribunal considered the taxpayer...