The Wallis Company v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Decision date: 20 September 2011
Neutral citation: [2011] UKFTT 623 (TC)
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
The Wallis Company appealed HMRC penalties for late filing a P35 return after online submissions on 17 May 2010 failed to be received. The Tribunal found on the balance of probabilities that error messages had been shown on both attempts, so the Appellant should have known the returns had failed, and rejected claims of reasonable excuse and financial hardship. Penalties of £400 were confirmed and the appeal dismissed.
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
Where an online submission produces clear error messages indicating failure, a taxpayer is not excused from penalties for late filing on the basis of claiming unawareness; a claimed reasonable excuse must exist for the whole period of default and be supported by evidence (for example, financial hardship must be demonstrated with detail).
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 noted that HMRC are not obliged to issue reminders and that penalty notices are not intended to act as reminders; it also observed that in some cases where employers repeatedly attempted submission and were expressly advised to persist by HMRC, appeals might be upheld.