Paul Leightley v The Commissioners for HMRC
Decision date: 8 July 2022
Neutral citation: [2022] UKFTT 210 (TC)
Overall AI summary confidence: medium
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: medium
This appeal concerned Schedule 55 penalties for late filing of a 2019/20 self-assessment return. The Tribunal found HMRC had sent the Notice to File and the appellant had accessed his online account and partially completed a return but did not submit it; he had no reasonable excuse. HMRC withdrew two penalties (Para.3 and Para.4) which were allowed, but the Tribunal dismissed the appeal against the Para.5 six-month penalty of £300 and upheld it.
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 Tribunal treated HMRC records showing printing, enveloping and Royal Mail despatch as sufficient to establish that a Notice to File was sent, and treated the appellant’s repeated access to his online tax account and partial completion of the return as strong evidence of awareness of self‑assessment obligations when assessing whether a reasonable excuse existed.
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 judgment contains observations that impecuniosity is not a reasonable excuse unless caused by events outside the taxpayer’s control, and that mere ignorance or inexperience, without more, may be insufficient as a reasonable excuse where objective conduct shows awareness of filing obligations.
Warning
This chunk contains repeated and duplicated passages of the judgment text, which may make extraction of distinct passages less straightforward. notes contain duplicated passages and may be incomplete; none of the original judgment text beyond these notes was used.