Tax return late filing penalties were cancelled, as there was no valid determination of any penalty, or if that was wrong the appellant had a reasonable excuse for not filing on time in the circumstances.
On 20 March 2016, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued the appellant with a notice to file a company tax return for its accounting period 1 March 2015 to 29 February 2016. The appellant filed the return online on 12 July 2017. HMRC made late filing penalty determinations of £100 each in March 2017 and July 2017 respectively. The appellant appealed.
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) noted that HMRC had apparently only issued a single penalty determination, which was in March 2017. The FTT considered that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, HMRC must be taken to have concluded that the return was not going to be more than three months late. The FTT therefore held that the second penalty was invalid.
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