Divorce is no excuse

The appellant company appealed against penalty for the late filing of corporation tax return for the sum of £82 940.

The company had filed its tax return for the tax year July 2006 which was due in July 2007 on 25 March 2009. Late filing penalties were imposed. The company appealed claiming reasonable excuse.

The First-tier Tribunal said that the appellant had taken ‘no significant steps’ to address the problem that it faced.

There had been no communication with HMRC which might have alerted the department to any difficulties being experienced by the company and therefore by a dilatory lack of management the penalties rose.

The appellant company contended that during the relevant time the director was involved in divorce proceedings which in turn prevented him from being able to allocate time...