Question of negligence

Failure to pay tax and National Insurance

The taxpayer was finance director of L a company purchased out of administration in April 2006. It traded until March 2007 when it was put into liquidation. He was responsible for settling PAYE tax and National Insurance but failed to do so. He decided to pay staff and suppliers instead of HMRC.

HMRC accused the taxpayer of negligence and issued a personal liability notice for the company’s unpaid National Insurance.

The taxpayer appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal accepted that the taxpayer appeared genuinely to believe that he had acted in the best interests of the company but said ‘such a position verges on delusional’. The judge concluded that a reasonable man would consider the taxpayer had behaved ‘wholly negligently’.

On the taxpayer’s claim that there had been an unreasonable delay between the events and the proceedings the tribunal said matters had been...