Provision should be made against injury of sole director

This taxpayer made a late appeal against four company tax return late filing penalties for the accounting period ending 28 February 2018. There was no dispute that the penalties had been correctly calculated.

HMRC objected to the late appeal.

The taxpayer said it had reasonable excuse because its sole director had been injured at work and needed two operations. He could not afford to pay his accountant to submit his returns. He was now well enough to do the accounts himself but would have to close down if his appeal failed.

The First-tier Tribunal noted the relevant return was still outstanding despite the taxpayer’s promise that its accounts would be brought up to date. Indeed there was no explanation why the company had managed to file its accounts with Companies House for the equivalent period but not its tax return for which the same information was required.

Further the taxpayer...