Section 322(5) and Naturalisation
Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 3:11 pm
The news is currently full of cases where highly skilled migrants have been refused ILR under 322(5) because they made corrections to past tax returns.
However, my question is if anyone has had the same type of refusal (purely based on HMRC/tax issues) for naturalisation, not ILR?
My wife and I both have our ILR, and have had for several years. We want to apply for naturalisation now, but a few years ago she submitted a self-assessment tax return a year late. She had registered as self-employed years before to do freelance work and submitted all the returns correctly, but after she got full-time employment she stopped doing private work and just had to submit a zero tax return every year (10 minutes online) for the dormant business, which she did dutifully every year. We then moved to a new house when our daughter was born, and that year she somehow forgot to submit in the confusion of it all, and the reminders got sent to the old address. The following year when she logged in to submit, she saw what had happened, and immediately submitted the missing zero return, paid the £1,200 admin penalty, submitted that year's return on time, and finally de-registered her old business so it doesn't happen again. HMRC would not waive the penalty for late submission, but she agreed it was her fault to have missed it. I am now terrified that we are going to apply for naturalisation, and get hit with this nightmare of being threatened with deportation under Section 322(5) because of that one oversight on her part.
However, my question is if anyone has had the same type of refusal (purely based on HMRC/tax issues) for naturalisation, not ILR?
My wife and I both have our ILR, and have had for several years. We want to apply for naturalisation now, but a few years ago she submitted a self-assessment tax return a year late. She had registered as self-employed years before to do freelance work and submitted all the returns correctly, but after she got full-time employment she stopped doing private work and just had to submit a zero tax return every year (10 minutes online) for the dormant business, which she did dutifully every year. We then moved to a new house when our daughter was born, and that year she somehow forgot to submit in the confusion of it all, and the reminders got sent to the old address. The following year when she logged in to submit, she saw what had happened, and immediately submitted the missing zero return, paid the £1,200 admin penalty, submitted that year's return on time, and finally de-registered her old business so it doesn't happen again. HMRC would not waive the penalty for late submission, but she agreed it was her fault to have missed it. I am now terrified that we are going to apply for naturalisation, and get hit with this nightmare of being threatened with deportation under Section 322(5) because of that one oversight on her part.