In Award Framers International v HMRC (TC03365 – 27 February 2014) the FTT allowed the appeal of an elderly taxpayer with poor memory who claimed reasonable excuse.
The taxpayer had been in the default surcharge regime since the first quarter of 2007. He had submitted his quarterly return for the second quarter of 2013 10 days late and had made his payment three days late. A Surcharge Liability Notice Extension had therefore been issued and HMRC insisted in its submissions that the taxpayer had a history of defaults.
The FTT found that the evidence showed that the director responsible for the returns was elderly (77 years old) and ‘prone to bouts of forgetfulness’. The FTT therefore accepted the taxpayer’s contention that he had been labouring under the mistake that the quarter date was one month later. On discovering his mistake he had paid the tax immediately. The FTT...
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