< Go Back Tribunal decide that an 'Officer of the Board' cannot be a Computer Posted: Oct 29, 2018 In a successful appeal against late filing penalties it was decided that HMRC's computer set the penalties concerned rather than a named (Human) Officer... Robert, Adam and Dorothy Thornton Trading as A* Education v HMRC [2018] TC6742 .
The appellants failed to file Employment Intermediaries returns on time. HMRC assessed late filing penalties under section 98(1)(b) of the Taxes Management Act 1970. The penalties charged totalled £1,750. The company appealed on the basis of ignorance of the law and argued that HMRC should have done much more to 'inform' small busineses of their obligations; that argument was doomed to falil, however...
The First Tier Tax Tribunal considered whether the penalties were correctly imposed, and found that:
A 'real life' officer of the Board must make the determination. HMRC was unable to evidence any human officer was involved in imposing the penalties which were issued by computer. No human 'Officer of the Board' made the relevant determination of these penalties as required by the relevant legislation. As there was no human intervention in the determination process then HMRC’s policy appears to be inconsistent with the law The appeal was therefore allowed.
It seems the rush to making everything 'digital' is outstripping the authority given to HMRC by statute in a number of areas; the automation of penalties certainly appears to be one of those areas.
If you have issues with HMRC penalties and need help or you need advice please contact us .