Charles Collier and his business CB Collier Partnership went to the tribunal to dispute a number of HMRC assessments and penalties relating to tax returns submitted between 2007-08 and 2010-11.  

The appellants did not dispute that earnings which should have been included were omitted from these tax returns. However, they argued that ‘the omitted amounts occurred as a result of negligent conduct and were brought about carelessly, the consequence being that the assessments and amendments, having been made more than six years after the end of the year of assessment to which they relate, are out of time and are consequently bad’.

HMRC rejected this argument, stating that the omissions of income from tax returns over a five-year period ‘were brought about deliberately’ and that Collier ‘was reckless as to the accuracy of the returns’. HMRC said that was ‘tantamount to deliberately submitting a return and intending for them to rely upon an inaccurate return as accurate’.

Over the