HMRC webchat advice backfires in tax penalty appeal

7 Aug 2024

An appellant paid their £57,000 income tax bill late due to the wrong advice from an HMRC online adviser, leading to his penalty being overturned at the tribunal

Hadleigh Cohen was late paying his £57,379.84 tax bill for the 2021-22 tax year due to filling in the wrong form on 2 May through his personal tax account.

However, HMRC took weeks to respond to the appellant and only told him to rectify the issue on 21 June, causing a penalty of £2,868 to be imposed.

Cohen had sent back the form on the same day of the penalty notice being issued but did not send the correct form until 8 July 2023, over one month late. This was also due to HMRC not rejecting the request for an appeal until 21 June.

On 17 October 2023, Cohen appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (FTT), where he represented himself.