Correct process for issuing notices to file tax returns

HMRC appealed against two First-tier Tribunal decisions both of which concerned penalties for late filing of self-assessment returns. The taxpayers had received notices to file returns but submitted them late. HMRC issued late filing penalties under FA 2009 Sch 55. The First-tier Tribunal allowed the appeals saying the notices to file returns had not been validly issued by an officer of the board of HMRC.

The department’s first ground of appeal concerned the scope of the First-tier Tribunal’s jurisdiction. The Upper Tribunal had concluded in CRC v Goldsmith [2019] UKUT 325 that the First-tier Tribunal did have jurisdiction to consider the validity of a notice to file issued under TMA 1970 s 8. HMRC’s argument that this decision was wrong was dismissed.

The Upper Tribunal then considered the lower tribunal’s conclusion that for a notice to be given ‘by an officer of the...