SCHEDULES
SCHEDULE 55Penalty for failure to make returns etc
Reasonable excuse
23
(1)
Liability to a penalty under any paragraph of this Schedule does not arise in relation to a failure to make a return if P satisfies HMRC or (on appeal) the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal that there is a reasonable excuse for the failure.
(2)
For the purposes of sub-paragraph (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.