High income child benefit charge and reasonable excuse

I have some disquiet on reading the decision of the First-tier Tribunal in Graham Cooke (TC7819). I suspect largely because I do not understand how the case turned into a question of reasonable excuse when HMRC had apparently already indicated a willingness to address the issue in question. I suspect that Judge Rankin was equating reasonable excuse with failure to take reasonable care although even that would not have got Mr Cooke home.

The appeal was against discovery assessments for 2015-16 and 2016-17 and a closure notice for 2017-18. These related solely to Mr Cooke’s liability to the high income child benefit charge (HICBC). This charge seems to be giving rise to many First-tier Tribunal cases by taxpayers who were unaware of it and I have previously commented online on Smith (TC7510) at tinyurl.com/yykqns42.

The facts

Mr Cooke was a soldier serving in Afghanistan when the HICBC...