Gary Borg v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Decision date: 6 October 2020
Neutral citation: Neutral citation not available
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This appeal challenged Schedule 41 FA 2008 penalties for failure to notify liability to the High Income Child Benefit Charge for 2013/14–2016/17. The Tribunal found the penalties correctly calculated, that HMRC applied the maximum statutory discounts, and that the appellant did not establish a reasonable excuse for failing to notify; the appeal was dismissed. The Tribunal also held it lacked jurisdiction to revisit wider questions of HMRC policy or statutory interest.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: medium
The dispositive ratio is that, on the facts, a taxpayer bears the burden of proving a reasonable excuse for failure to notify HICBC; non-receipt of HMRC communications will not ordinarily constitute a reasonable excuse absent convincing evidence (for example of a change of address or other explanation), and HMRC has no statutory duty to notify all potentially affected taxpayers—publicity or letters are matters of policy outside the Tribunal’s remit.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The Tribunal observed (not as binding law) that widespread publicity about HICBC is relevant when assessing whether ignorance of the charge was reasonable, noted the appellant’s prompt cooperation and that HMRC had applied maximum penalty reductions, and expressed scepticism that multiple undelivered letters without an apparent cause would be believable.