Self-Assessment tax late submission penalty - won appeal against HRMC

Anon123456789

Hi, 
I incurred penalty charges for submitting my self-assessment tax return late. I had clicked on 'submit', and the website said that my tax return had been submitted, but I didn't receive a confirmation email, which I realised months later meant the return had never actually been submitted. After thinking I had submitted the return, even though my communication settings on self-assessment are set to paperless, all communication from HMRC was by letter, which went to an old address, because I moved shortly before doing the tax return, and was using it to update my address. By the time I realised what had happened I had over £1000 of penalty charges. 
I appealed the penalty charges. My first appeal was rejected, but the second - escalated to HMRC's solicitors office-  was successful and I was refunded in full.  I wanted to post this on the forum because when I was researching my appeal, I saw lots of posts on online forums saying that it was hopeless to appeal, so not to bother. Obviously, not my experience!
Basically, HRMC shouldn't be fining anyone who reasonably believes that they complied with their obligations. It seems to frequently take two appeals, or even going to tribunal, to get HMRC to apply the proper legal definition of reasonable. Its reasonable to believe that the return has been submitted if the website says it has been, even if there is no email confirmation. Its also reasonable to believe that communication with HMRC will be paperless if this option is selected.
This seems to be a relatively common problem - HMRC knows there's a glitch on the website- so, if you find yourself in this situation, definitely appeal, and if the first appeal is rejected, definitely do a second appeal!

comeandgo

Yes, I had something similar but I was so insistent with HMRC, I knew the exact time and date I submitted the assessment I was put in touch with their IS team who were able to confirm they had a problem that date and time so all penalty charges were dropped.

[Deleted User]

In addition, when you submit the return, a ‘submission receipt’ page pops up. I always take a screenshot of this as I had a similar problem with a consultant client many years ago. It proved to be conclusive.