J Huntley v HMRC

In J Huntley v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 760 (20 December 2018) the FTT found that the filing of self-assessment returns cannot displace discovery assessments.

Mr Huntley ran a shop but he did not file tax returns for several years. HMRC eventually caught up with him. It issued discovery assessments under TMA 1970 s 29 and imposed penalties. Mr Huntley then filed a total of 16 tax returns covering the years 1996/7 to 2011/12 but HMRC did not accept the returns and did not process them. He appealed to the FTT to be allowed to make a late appeal against HMRC’s refusal of the returns.

The FTT first noted that there is no express provision in any legislation conferring jurisdiction on a court or tribunal over HMRC’s refusal to accept and/or process the appellant’s tax returns so that Mr Huntley could only challenge HMRC’s refusal by judicial review proceedings...