Unreasonable delay in late application for enhanced and primary protection

The taxpayer was a businessman had built up a large pension fund which exceeded the lifetime allowance (£1.5m) as at 6 April 2006 (A day). He relied on a longstanding adviser Mr Y to send form APSS200 to HMRC to obtain primary and enhanced protection so that he would not be subject to the lifetime allowance charge. The deadline for submission was 5 April 2009.

In June 2015 a new adviser suspected the form had not been submitted; HMRC confirmed this was the case in July. After some investigations in October the adviser told the taxpayer that HMRC had not received the form. He appointed a solicitor to investigate a possible negligence claim.

Eventually in December 2016 a completed form was filed. HMRC rejected the claim on the basis the taxpayer’s reasonable excuse ended in July 2015 when it did not have the form and...