Whether appealable notices had been validly served

The taxpayer applied to the First-tier Tribunal to admit a series of late appeals concerning VAT and income tax assessments.

In brief the taxpayer said his agent had not told him about the assessments and if they had done he would have appealed within the time limits. He was unable to bring appeals against notices of which he was unaware. The earliest he became aware of any appealable matters was in HMRC’s bankruptcy petition in July 2018. The delay in appealing which took place after the petition was a result of HMRC’s failure to provide relevant information.

The tribunal found that HMRC had sent the appealable documents to the taxpayer or his agents. However on the basis that the taxpayer had sent previous VAT correspondence to his agent the fact that the agent had not received the relevant notices the judges were prepared to accept...