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The taxpayers carried on business in partnership. Their tax affairs were dealt with by N. He initially intended to file their partnership return online, but due to problems with the relevant software, decided to file the return on paper instead (after the 31 October deadline).
He said that he telephoned HMRC’s helpline before the end of 2008 to check whether late filing penalties could be avoided if the tax due was paid by the due date, and that HMRC confirmed this was the position. However, he did not specifically mention partnership returns, and assumed the position was the same both for personal and partnership returns.
N filed the taxpayers’ partnership return in person on the last working day in January 2009.
HMRC imposed a penalty under TMA 1970, s 93A on each of the partners on the basis that the return was late because it had been filed on paper after the 31 October deadline. The taxpayers appealed to the First-tier Tribunal.
The tribunal accepted that N believed that, as long as the partners had all paid their tax liabilities by the due date, any penalty imposed for the late filing of the partnership return would be cancelled. However he acknowledged that HMRC had not specifically said this and that he had assumed that the same rules applied to partnership and individual returns.
Despite having some sympathy for N, the tribunal did not consider there was reasonable excuse for late filing of the partnership return.
The taxpayers’ appeal was dismissed.
