LC Property Management Ltd v Revenue & Customs (INCOME TAX/CORPORATION TAX : Penalty)

PENALTY � failure to make a monthly CIS return � FA 2009, Sch 55 - late appeal to HMRC � reasonable excuse � special circumstances � irrelevance of treatment of other cases

Determined on the papers on 16 June 2017 having considered the notice of appeal dated 25 April 2016 and attachments, and the Respondents� statement of case sent to the Tribunal on 1 June 2016 and attachments.� The Appellant was given the opportunity to file a Reply, but did not do so.

There has been considerable delay between the filing by the appellant, L C Property Management Limited (�LCPM�), of its notice of appeal in this case and the issue of this decision.� The parties deserve both an apology and an explanation, although the circumstances in which this has occurred are not entirely clear.

On receipt of the notice of appeal, which was dated 25 April 2016, the appeal proceeded in the normal way for one categorised as a default paper case, in other words a case ordinarily determined without a hearing.� HMRC sent their statement of case to the Tribunal on 1 June 2016 and the Tribunal wrote to LCPM on 13 June advising LCPM of its right to submit a reply.� When no reply had been received by the due date, the appeal was in the normal way allocated to a judge for determination on the papers.� The file was sent to the judge on 19 July 2016.

What happened then is something of a mystery.� Although the Tribunal received back from the judge decisions in three other paper cases that had been allocated to him for the same day, no trace has been found of the decision in this case.� There is no record of it in the Tribunal�s files, or electronically, and the judge (who is currently not available for Tribunal work) has not been able to find it on his own systems.