Tax filing penalties when self assessment not required

摘要

In R & C Commrs v Goldsmith [2019] UKUT 0325 (TCC) [2019] BTC 527 (https://library.croneri.co.uk/cch_uk/btc/2019-btc-527), the Upper Tribunal decided that David Goldsmith had to pay two £100 penalties for the late filing of personal tax returns. While it is unfortunate for the taxpayer that he lost his case, given the relatively low level of penalties, it could be asked why HMRC bothered to appeal the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) decision ([2018] TC 06284 (https://library.croneri.co.uk/cch_uk/btc/2018-tc-06284)) and why anyone should be interested in the decision. The answer is the potential repercussions for other taxpayers. Goldsmith was not registered for self assessment and was instead taxed through PAYE. In 2011-12 and 2012-13, he received employment income and taxable employment and support allowance (ESA). For reasons that are unclear the tax code provided by HMRC required Goldsmith’s employer to deduct his full personal allowance from his employment income rather than allocate some of the allowance against his ESA.