Handed in on time

The appellant made a substantial trading loss in 2001-02 which he intended to carry back and set off against a capital gain realised in 2000-01. His advisers subsequently recommended that the loss be carried forward instead which meant that the appellant needed to amend his 2000-01 return. In order to comply with TMA 1970 s 9ZA the return had to be amended by midnight on 31 January 2003.

The adviser claimed that he delivered the amendment by hand on 31 January 2003 along with a number of tax returns for 2001-02. HMRC claimed not to have received the amendment until 7 February 2003.

The Special Commissioner allowing the appeal decided that the evidence produced by the appellant was credible. On the other hand it appeared that other documents processed by the relevant tax office had not been dealt with correctly. He was therefore...