HMRC chasing a dead man

The sister-in-law of a UK tax client has contacted me from Australia. HMRC has sent late filing penalty notices for 2022-23, and a notice to file for 2023-24, addressed to her husband who died in November 2023. As far as she knows he did not receive a notice to file for 2022-23; if he did so, he died before the due date. Also as far as she knows, he had no UK assets or income for the last 29 years as he was Australian resident and paid all his taxes in Australia. He was a beneficiary of his late mother's estate - he received a payout of capital in January 2022, but this went directly to an Australian bank account, and as far as she is aware all taxes were paid by the executors. She wrote to HMRC on 2 April 2024, enclosing a copy of the death certificate, but has heard nothing back apart from further demands for penalties and self-assessment statements. I am posting this in the hope of finding out what she should do (or anyone should do in this circumstance) - her late husband cannot authorise me to act as agent, so I am unlikely to be able to get HMRC to engage with me; she can't hang on the telephone from Australia listening to the recorded message on the helpline; he had no other contact with HMRC so he doesn't have a PDTA or anything else. I am happy to provide further details to anyone who can help sort it out, but I do not know how to go about that without authorisation. At the moment she is content to assume that HMRC will not go to Australia in pursuit of her husband, but it is unnecessarily distressing for her to be hassled in relation to her late husband's non-liability.

Hi ,
 

I am sorry if this is causing distress. This forum is for general queries only and we are unable to access records to provide specific advice tailored to individual circumstances. Your sister-in-law will need to contact HMRC to review. She can contact by phone/post/webchat at : Self Assessment: general enquiries  . Thank you

Phoning from Australia is not practical, given the time people generally have to wait on the line listening to the recorded message. She has tried writing - as explained above, she wrote in April - now more than 6 months ago - and it seems to have had no effect at all. If you promise that webchat will help her, I will suggest it, but your answer does not really address the difficulty she is in.

Hi, I'm not an Admin but whoever is executor can authorise you which should hopefully get the ball rolling on finding out why HMRC think a return is needed.

I have received an e-mail that there is something new to read, but the new posts seem to be under moderation. Meanwhile, I can report that the widow has now tried the webchat service; she reports that "they immediately asked for information I haven't got", and she gave up. She agreed with me that phoning from Australia is not practical, and HMRC has not taken any notice of the letter she wrote. She says that she will now return all post addressed to her husband "return to sender". I think she has done her best. Do you have any other suggestions?