Third party excuse

The taxpayer appealed against a flat rate penalty of £100 imposed under FA 2003 Sch 10 para 3 for the failure to deliver a ‘land transaction return’ on form SDLT1 to HMRC within 30 days of a ‘notifiable transaction’ as required by FA 2003 s 76.

The issue before the First-tier Tribunal was whether or not the taxpayer was exempt from penalties as a result of unsatisfactory tax advice from her solicitor and whether this therefore constituted ‘reasonable excuse’. The taxpayer bought a flat on 12 August 2009.

This purchase constituted a notifiable transaction under FA 2003 s 77 therefore meaning that a return should have been completed and sent in to HMRC by 11 September 2009.

The tribunal looked at Rowland (SpC 548) to...