Penalties for the late filing of real-time information returns were cancelled by the First-tier Tribunal, as the appellant company successfully proved that the returns had been delivered to HMRC on time. 
 
The appellant company was a real-time information (RTI) employer in the tax year 2017/18 and was, therefore, required to make an RTI return to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) every time they made a payment of earnings to an employee, on or before the date of payment (under SI 2003/2682, reg 67B; SI 2001/1004, Sch 4, para 21A). The appellant appealed against penalties imposed by HMRC (under FA 2009, Sch 55) for the alleged failure to deliver RTI returns on time for certain months. 
 
When appealing against the penalties, the appellant attached a letter they sent to HMRC. In that letter, the appellant referred to HMRC’s statement to them that they had submitted several returns as ‘month 12 with