Lack of advice by HMRC that penalties would be incurred by filing a paper return and conflicting and unclear advice as to the taxpayer’s liability to a penalty amounted to a reasonable excuse for the late submission of the return for penalty purposes. 

The appellant filed a paper self-assessment return for the tax year 2016/17 on 30 October 2018 (the due date was 31 October 2017). HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sought late filing penalties. The appellant appealed. The penalties under appeal were: (1) daily penalties of £900; and (2) a six-month late filing penalty of £300. An initial late filing penalty of £100 had been cancelled by HMRC, when the appellant called HMRC to dispute the penalty as he was having difficulty filing his return online.

The appellant explained to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that he had been assisted by HMRC with his returns in earlier years but the local HMRC office had closed in 2014. He struggled