HMRC’s tax and penalty decisions had been received by the taxpayer and passed on to his adviser, and decisions sent to his adviser had been notified to the taxpayer because the adviser had received them as the taxpayer’s agent.    

The appellant had been in self-assessment continually since 1997, so was issued with tax returns every year. He failed to file his returns by the due dates for 2015/16 to 2023/24 inclusive and was issued with late filing penalties. In total, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued 25 separate late filing penalty decisions during the relevant period. In addition, HMRC issued enquiry closure notices for the tax years 2014/15, 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19, together with a discovery assessment for 2015/16. Penalties were issued for all five tax years. Three penalties were also issued for failure to provide information, and late payment penalties were issued for 2014/15 and 2016/17. The appellant appealed.;