HMRC says sorry over late tax return fines for girl with Alzheimers

A woman with Alzheimer’s and her husband have had an apology from HMRC after it threatened her with £10-a-day fines over a late tax return.

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

But his efforts got nowhere, and he told us: ‘I am unable to complete the form online and HMRC have failed to send me a paper copy, despite several requests and reassurance that one is in the post.’

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

She was also incurring further £10 daily fines from 1 May, and would do so until she completed a tax form.

When he contacted This is Money the retired taxi driver, 76, told us it was hard to sleep because of the worry, adding: ‘This is causing me undue stress and I cannot see a way around the situation.’

After we raised his case with HMRC, it found the power of attorney Mr Morley had submitted for his wife was not properly recorded on its systems due to an isolated administrative error.

A spokesperson said: We’ll be speaking to Mr Morley to apologise profusely and confirm we have now recorded the power of attorney fully on our systems.

‘Once he submits a self assessment return for Mrs Morley with an appeal against the penalties, we will cancel the penalties.’

Mrs Morley, 77, a retired teaching assistant, receives a state pension and two small private pensions that amount to less than the £12,570 personal allowance which is the threshold to start paying income tax.

Normally, this means she should not have to fill in a tax return.

But the couple, who live in London, jointly owned a property which was sold in October 2022 and they paid capital gains tax.

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

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

However, this was because she was unable to and he had power of attorney.

After we asked HMRC to investigate, it said a tax return for Mrs Morley for 2022/23 does need to be filed due to the property sale.

However, once that is sent along with an appeal the late penalties will be cancelled.

It confirmed no other penalties are outstanding either, and a request for a 2023/24 tax return and any future years is cancelled.

In late May, nearly a month before contacting This is Money, Mr Morley wrote to HMRC about his wife’s situation and protested against her fines.

He said in his letter: ‘The fact you did not write to me in acknowledgment of my power of attorney I can’t understand.’

He explained how he had tried to fill in his wife’s tax return online, but never received the code to their phone or email in order to proceed.

‘I have also called to try and resolve this issue. After a long wait on the phone I spoke with an individual who informed me I would receive a paper copy. This was eight weeks ago.

‘I phoned again five weeks ago and was told I would receive one in a few days through the post. However, I am still waiting.’

And he added: ‘I have my hands full caring full time for my wife and could really do without the added stress of this hanging over me.’

After HMRC subsequently wrote saying it was imposing daily fines, Mr Morley got in touch with This is Money because we previously helped him sort out a delay to getting his state pension started.