Tribunal Rules That If You Are Struggling With Your Tax Return, You Need to Get it in as Best You Can

A recent case before the First Tier Tribunal denied a taxpayer’s appeal against a late filing penalty under self assessment.

The taxpayer was claiming that delays on the part of HMRC led to him missing the filing deadline.

I extract word for word from the ruling:

“We understand that Mr Figg wanted to discuss the taxability of his relocation package with HMRC before finalising his tax return.  Unreasonably long delays by HMRC in responding to questions might be an excuse not only for filing a tax return late, but also in calculating (and therefore paying) tax.  However, for the excuse to be reasonable, the issues must have been raised by the taxpayer with HMRC sufficiently in advance of the filing deadline to give HMRC a reasonable opportunity to respond.  And of course if HMRC do not respond in time, it is always open to a taxpayer to file his return on the basis that he or she believes is correct, and to note the potential uncertainty (and the fact that the issue has been raised with HMRC) in the “white space” on the tax return (or the equivalent field in the electronic version).”

So, if things are holding you up, just get the return in and use the white space to highlight any areas of uncertainty you might have.