Employer error on address amounts to special circumstances

The taxpayer appealed against penalties for the late filing of his 2014-15 and 2015-16 self-assessment tax returns. He said he had not received a tax return form or reminder that he should self assess. He had moved address but notified HMRC of the change and he did not know why the department had changed its records to his old address from November 2015 to October 2018 – this transpired to be a mistake of his employer. He ceased self-employment in 2014-15 and began employment; he had given details to a secretary whom he thought had submitted an online form to inform HMRC he was no longer self-employed and so believed no further action was needed. Further his English was poor he was not familiar with the tax system and he relied on other people to do his returns.

The First-tier Tribunal noted that the taxpayer had kept HMRC...