Leslie Livingstone v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Decision date: 3 February 2010
Neutral citation: [2010] UKFTT 56 (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 a Personal Liability Notice (PLN) served on Mr Leslie Livingstone for £60,428.57 of unpaid Class 1 National Insurance contributions of Mirekirk One Ltd. The First-tier Tribunal held that "neglect" under the PLN regime is to be assessed by an ordinary negligence / reasonable-person test and found that Livingstone, as sole director, was neglectful in permitting PAYE/NIC withholdings not to be paid and in failing to apply available sale proceeds to HMRC. The appeal was dismissed and the PLN upheld.
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 treated "neglect" as equivalent to negligence judged by the ordinary reasonable-person standard for the purpose of a PLN and applied that test to the director’s conduct; on the facts, a director who allows PAYE/NIC deductions to be withheld over an extended period and does not use available company assets to pay HMRC may be found neglectful.
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 HMRC’s internal policy history and ministerial assurances about centralisation of PLN decisions and observed that the statute does not use the word "serious"; it also recorded that a director’s qualifications and past directorships are part of the background but were not decisive to the outcome.