The appellant, Neal Futcher, disputed an HMRC penalty notice of £51,234 related to the late filing of his 2015/16 self assessment tax return.

Futcher was charged under Schedule 55 Finance Act 2009 (Sch 55), which states that a person is liable to a penalty when ‘he does not file an income tax return by the date that HMRC has required him to’.

On 6 April 2016 HMRC sent Futcher a notice to file his self assessment return electronically by 31 January 2017.

However, Futcher filed his return on 16 August 2019. It was 972 days or two years, six months and 16 days late. The tax liability stated on the submitted return was £171,137.

HMRC argued that Futcher had ‘consciously’ decided to delay filing his return until the tax authority raised a determination in July 2019, which stood at the amount of £253,341.

Fu