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| Reasonable Excuse and Serious Misdeclaration Penalties |
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| A taxpayer appealed against a serious misdeclaration penalty, resulting from an error made by a company accountant when he was stressed by the death of his mother, claiming reasonable excuse |
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Although the tribunal allowed the appeal it is clear that the Customs’ representative tried his hardest to get his pound of flesh. This is borne out by perhaps the most insensitive argument used by any officer of the tax authorities -‘The bereavement suffered by the company accountant could not have been unforeseen, as it concerned the death of a lady both elderly and infirm.’
Generally the tax authorities are sympathetic to genuine error where the circumstance has been debilitating and has affected the work of the tax payer or his advisor. However, it has to be said that the action of this particular officer was mean in the extreme and taxpayers should be aware that they can not always get sensitive treatment from the authorities.
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