Louise Fernandez v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Decision date: 19 April 2011
Neutral citation: [2011] UKFTT 259 (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
The appellant appealed two £100 late-filing penalties for her 2009 self-assessment return after filing a paper return on 3 December 2010. The Tribunal accepted that failure of HMRC's online filing facility for the appellant and HMRC's failure to respond to her helpdesk enquiries in a timely way amounted to a "reasonable excuse" for missing the 31 January 2010 deadline, so the first penalty was cancelled. The Tribunal held that the same excuse did not justify the continued six-month delay and dismissed the appeal against the second penalty.
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 applied the ordinary meaning of "reasonable excuse" and held it is not confined to highly exceptional events outside a taxpayer's control; a taxpayer may have a reasonable excuse where the tax authority's online filing system does not work for them and the authority fails to respond promptly to requests for assistance. However, once assistance is not forthcoming, the taxpayer is expected to take alternative reasonable steps to file, and continued failure to file for a further six months was not excused.
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 expressed views that public authorities should be held to similar standards as businesses in responding to correspondence within a reasonable time and that an unresponsive helpdesk undermines the utility of an online filing facility; these comments were not necessary to the decision on the six-month late filing.