Drop in number of SAO penalties

The number of penalties issued to senior accounting officers by the HMRC has dropped from 148 to just 20 in the year to 31 March 2021, according to figures obtained by law firm Pinsent Masons.

Jake Landman, a tax disputes expert at Pinsent Masons, said that this was partly due to ‘HMRC diverting resources to more pressing areas, such as furlough fraud’, but also because HMRC is now ‘taking a more selective approach’ following the decision in Castlelaw (No. 628) Ltd & another v HMRC [2020] UKFTT 34 (TC), which confirmed that HMRC has discretion over whether to assess a penalty for SAO breaches.