Out of time appeal against penalties for late filing

The taxpayer made a late appeal against penalties for the late filing of his 2014-15 and 2015-16 tax returns on the ground he had not received the notices. It appeared that HMRC had sent the penalty notices and those to file assessments to the taxpayer’s old address.

The First-tier Tribunal decided to hear the late appeal even though it was nearly two years after the penalty notices were issued. This was because HMRC had used an old address despite being aware of the taxpayer’s latest address having received a letter from him.

The judge allowed the taxpayer’s appeal for the same reason.

Interestingly he referred to the new provision in TMA 1970 s 12D which is deemed always to have been in force – although HMRC had not mentioned this in its statement of case - and whether s 12D would ‘cure’ the defect in...