Mrs P Franks v HMRC

In Mrs P Franks v HMRC (TC02119 – 20 July) a woman (F) married in 1967 and gave up her job. She resumed working in 1977. Subsequently she discovered that she would not receive a full state retirement pension and applied to make backdated payments of Class 1 contributions. HMRC rejected her application on the grounds that their records showed that in 1970 she had signed a declaration on form CF9 electing not to pay such contributions (and had made a further election in 1977 electing to pay reduced-rate contributions). F appealed contending that she had not made either of the elections. The First-tier Tribunal reviewed the evidence in detail and allowed her appeal in part. Judge Short accepted F’s evidence that ‘she would have had no reason for making an election in 1970 since she had no intention of working...