advice re -taxman

john.xs

my 80 yr old mother and father in law have recieved a £100 fine for not completing a tax form for the year 2003. can this be right!

ctm_2

Well, only one of them will have received the penalty. And yes, it can be right. If they were sent a return to complete, and didn't send it back by the date it was due, they will be charged a penalty.

best idea is to contact the office that issued the penalty and find out exactly what is going on, and when and why the return was issued. Then establish if it was actually received or not.

You can appeal against penalties, but generally speaking the appeal won't be considered untila fter the penalty has been paid. If the appeal is accepted then it will be refunded.

So, find out exactly which year the return was for, and that it was actually received, and isn't some mistake. Also, if your mother or father (whichever one got the penalty) does normally complete tax returns, then check to see if they sent it in, but it nver got received by HMRC.

john.xs

thanks i'll pass this advice on to them tomorrow and see what we can find out.