A simple affair

In the year 2008/09 a trust made a substantial capital gain. The trust return was filed online in time but the tax was not paid until 20 April.

HMRC therefore issued a notice imposing a surcharge for late payment of tax.

The trust’s tax adviser explained that the tax was paid late due to an oversight on the part of the main trustee who had only recently taken over the role on the death of her mother. She had assumed the solicitors holding the funds would pay the tax.

While expressing some sympathy HMRC refused to cancel the surcharge so the trust appealed claiming negligence of professional advisers as reasonable excuse for the late payment.

The First-tier Tribunal said that in circumstances where the failure had been the straightforward late payment of tax reliance...