Part 5Enforcement of the levy and penalties

Chapter 3Penalties

Penalty for failure to keep and preserve records

55Reasonable excuse for failure to keep and preserve records

(1)

If P satisfies the relevant local authority that there is a reasonable excuse for a failure to comply with section 28, liability to a penalty under section 54 does not arise in relation to that failure.

(2)

For the purposes of subsection (1)

(a)

an insufficiency of funds is not a reasonable excuse unless attributable to events outside P's control,

(b)

where P relies on any other person to do anything, that is not a reasonable excuse unless P took reasonable care to avoid the failure, and

(c)

where P had a reasonable excuse for the failure but the excuse has ceased, P is to be treated as having continued to have the excuse if the failure is remedied without unreasonable delay after the excuse ceased.