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If a penalty has been correctly charged by HMRC, the taxpayer can only appeal if they believe they have a ‘reasonable excuse’ for failing to comply with the legislation. This is discussed below. However, even if the Tribunal finds that the taxpayer does not have a reasonable excuse, it may reduce the amount of the penalty payable due to special circumstances. See Simon’s Taxes A4.567D.

The term ‘reasonable excuse’ is not defined in the legislation and therefore the meaning is continually being reassessed by the courts ‘in light of all the circumstances of the particular case’.

HMRC considers a reasonable excuse to be ‘something that stops a person from meeting a tax obligation despite them having taken reasonable care to meet that obligation’. In order to assess whether the excuse is reasonable, HMRC assesses ‘the experience, knowledge and other attributes of the person who has failed’ when deciding whether the taxpayer has taken reasonable care to meet the obligation.

Therefore, a reasonable excuse often arises where there is an unexpected or unusual