B&M Retail Limited v The Commissioners for HMRC
Decision date: 16 July 2026
Neutral citation: [2026] UKFTT 1062 (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
B&M Retail appealed a £1,172,340.94 penalty under paragraph 4 of Schedule 41 to the Finance Act 2008 for acquiring excise goods where duty could not be shown to have been paid. The sole issue was whether B&M had a "reasonable excuse" under paragraph 20; the Tribunal found that B&M's structured, consistently applied due diligence and reliance on supplier assurances as part of that framework amounted to a reasonable excuse and that it persisted until B&M ceased trading with the intermediary (Ruby) after HMRC's November 2011 intervention. The appeal was allowed and the penalty vacated.
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: high
The Tribunal held that where a trader has implemented structured, commercially coherent supplier onboarding and transaction-level due diligence and it is not realistically possible to obtain more definitive proof of duty payment, those steps can constitute a "reasonable excuse" under paragraph 20 of Schedule 41; whether repeated HMRC detentions require earlier cessation of trade depends on the overall factual context and whether a reasonable trader would have acted sooner.
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 suggested (obiter) that reliance on supplier assurances can be acceptable when embedded in a wider due diligence framework, and that imposing a near-certainty standard of proof of duty payment would be inappropriate in multi-layered wholesale markets where such certainty is not realistically achievable.