John Sillitoe v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Decision date: 23 August 2010
Neutral citation: [2010] UKFTT 409 (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 appeal concerned fixed penalties of £1,200 for each of 2004–05 and 2005–06 imposed for failure to submit CIS36 end‑of‑year returns. The Tribunal found the appellant, a contractor with longstanding industry involvement, had no reasonable excuse for the whole periods of default and upheld both statutory penalties. The Tribunal rejected arguments based on hardship, genuine error, HMRC maladministration and ECHR disproportionality.
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
A contractor’s lack of knowledge of CIS obligations does not amount to a reasonable excuse for non‑submission of CIS36 returns where the contractor has longstanding involvement in the industry; absent a reasonable excuse covering the whole period of default, the fixed statutory penalties must be upheld and HMRC’s internal failure to cross‑check returns does not absolve the contractor of the statutory filing obligation.
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 that HMRC is not obliged to cross‑check taxpayers’ self‑assessment returns to identify CIS non‑compliance and that HMRC’s internal mitigation guidance is discretionary and only applies after penalties are determined and appeal rights are exhausted.