ABG Fibre Services Ltd v The Commissioners For HMRC
Decision date: 14 October 2024
Neutral citation: [2024] UKFTT 907 (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
This is an appeal by ABG Fibre Services Ltd against HMRC default surcharges for VAT periods 09/20, 12/20 and 03/21. The First-tier Tribunal granted permission for the late appeal but held that ABG had no reasonable excuse for late payment because it relied on expected CIS repayments it had not received and did not take reasonable alternative steps to mitigate. The Tribunal dismissed the substantive appeal and upheld the surcharges.
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 decided that (1) where a taxpayer engages in repeated correspondence and review with HMRC and then appeals promptly when that process ends, permission to bring a late appeal can properly be granted; and (2) a taxpayer cannot legitimately treat an anticipated but unreceived CIS repayment as a reasonable excuse for failing to pay VAT on time where the taxpayer has not taken reasonable mitigation steps (such as seeking gross payment status, arranging time to pay, or otherwise protecting cashflow).
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 suggests (obiter) that circumstances genuinely making it impossible to retain sufficient funds might amount to a reasonable excuse but would require detailed evidence of cash position and steps taken. It also notes that the COVID‑19 pandemic could, in some cases, give rise to a reasonable excuse, subject to specific evidential support.
Warning
Chunk contains repeated and duplicated passages and formatting artifacts; care was taken to judgment the substantive points. Notes provided contain repeated and duplicated passages and formatting artifacts; they may be noisy and not comprehensive.