WB Langthorne v HMRC

Personal tax: Application to pay backdated Class 3 contributions

In WB Langthorne v HMRC (TC00475 – 18 May) an individual (L) was born in 1930. He served in the RAF and became a police officer in the UK. From 1955 to 1967 he worked in Bechuanaland (now Botswana) and did not pay any UK national insurance contributions. He returned to the UK in 1967. In 1995 he discovered that because he had not paid national insurance contributions from 1955 to 1967 he would not receive a full state pension. He applied to pay backdated contributions. HMRC rejected his claim on the basis that his failure to pay these contributions was attributable to his 'failure to exercise due care and diligence' within Social Security (Contributions) Regulations SI 2001/1004 reg 50. L appealed. The First-Tier Tribunal dismissed his appeal observing that L 'was aware of...