HMRC apologizes after woman with Alzheimer’s fined for filing her tax return late

A woman with Alzheimer’s and her husband have received an apology from HMRC after she was threatened with £10-a-day fines for a late tax return.

Alf Morley, pictured left with Linda, says he tried to tell the taxman that she could not complete the return herself, and he had a power of attorney to do it for her.

But her efforts were unsuccessful and she told us: “I am unable to complete the form online and HMRC have not sent me a paper copy, despite several requests and assurances that there was one in the post.”

Mr Morley says this resulted in his wife receiving a letter in mid-June that she now faced a £300 fine.

He would also incur additional £10 daily fines from May 1, and would continue to do so until he completed a tax form.

When contacted by This is Money, the 76-year-old retired taxi driver told us he was having trouble sleeping because of the worry, adding: “This is causing me undue stress and I can’t see any way out of the situation.”

After we raised his case with HMRC, it was discovered that the power of attorney Mr Morley had submitted for his wife was not correctly recorded in their systems due to an isolated administrative error.

A spokesperson said: We will speak to Mr Morley to apologize deeply and confirm that we have now fully registered the power of attorney on our systems.

“Once you submit a self-assessment statement for Ms. Morley with an appeal against the sanctions, we will cancel the sanctions.”

Ms Morley, 77, a retired teaching assistant, receives a state pension and two small private pensions that add up to less than the personal allowance of £12,570, which is the threshold for starting to pay income tax.

Typically, this means you shouldn’t have to fill out a tax return.

But the couple, who live in London, co-owned a property that was sold in October 2022 and paid capital gains tax.

Mr Morley says he made a £100 error in filing this, for which he was fined. However, both also received fines for late payments, which they appealed.

His appeal was successful after he explained the very difficult circumstances at the time, but he says Ms Morley’s was not because she had not signed the letter.

However, this was because she couldn’t do it and he had a power.

After we asked HMRC to investigate, they said a tax return needed to be lodged for Ms Morley for 2022/23 due to the sale of the property.

However, once it is submitted along with an appeal, any late fees will be waived.

He confirmed that there are no other pending sanctions and the application for tax returns for 2023/24 and any future years is cancelled.

At the end of May, almost a month before he contacted This is Money, Mr Morley wrote to HMRC about his wife’s situation and protested about her fines.

In his letter he said: “I cannot understand the fact that you have not written to me acknowledging my power of attorney.”

He explained how he had tried to complete his wife’s tax return online, but never received the code on his phone or email to continue.

‘I have also called to try to resolve this issue. After a long wait on the phone, I spoke to a person who informed me that I would receive a printed copy. This was eight weeks ago.

“I called back five weeks ago and was told I would receive one in the mail within a few days. However, I am still waiting.”

He added: “I have my hands full looking after my wife full-time and could really do without the extra stress this puts on me.”

After HMRC subsequently wrote saying it would impose daily penalties, Mr Morley contacted This is Money because we had previously helped him sort out a delay in the start of his state pension.

Tax Tips from Heather Rogers