An interesting tax tribunal case from a couple of months ago.
A pensioner (Mr Bentley) didn't know how to complete the tax return he'd been sent by the 31 January deadline. He asked HMRC if they'd help him if he came in to see them. They said yes - but they were a bit busy in January, what with the important tax return deadline, so could he perhaps come in early February? He said yes, they helped him to complete his return at the start of February, and after taking it off him promptly fined him for being late.
He appealed, on the grounds that if they were going to fine him for being late then they shouldn't have made his appointment after the deadline. Unsurprisingly, the tribunal agreed and cancelled the fine, as any halfway reasonable onlooker would agree is fair.
The real mystery is quite why HMRC were so keen to impose the fine and take it through the appeals process to begin with. It wasn't even the full £100 penalty - it was capped at the tax due, which was £93! At least Mr Bentley got a fair result in the end.
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