Registration set up on behalf of taxpayer by agency

The taxpayer filed his 2016-17 tax return late and appealed against the penalties imposed by HMRC. He said he believed that because he was a student he did not have to complete a return. Further he had been working overseas so had not been at home to receive any documents.

The department said he had registered for self assessment in March 2017 using form SA1 and although he was now working abroad he was still under an obligation to file a return.

The First-tier Tribunal said when the taxpayer worked as a temporary schoolteacher the agency that had found him the job ‘probably’ required him to set up a company to receive his pay. Indeed the company that had registered the taxpayer was ‘one of thousands … established at the same registered office address’. 

Further the taxpayer had left the UK when he was registered for self...