Reasonable excuse

Tribunals must take an objective view

The taxpayer appealed against daily penalties of £900 for the late filing of her 2010-11 self-assessment tax return.

In short she had tried to file the return before the 31 January deadline but failed to complete the final step so the form was not submitted. She had experienced a similar problem the previous year and the penalty was cancelled. When HMRC told her the 2010-11 form was outstanding and that was why it had imposed penalties the taxpayer tried to file her return but did so in the 2011-12 form. HMRC notified her of the error and she submitted the form correctly – about two months later.

The First-tier Tribunal decided that even if the taxpayer did have reasonable excuse for the late submission it had come to an end because she did not rectify the problem as soon...