A tax payment made by cheque, which was dishonoured by the bank for an unknown reason, resulted in a late payment penalty, and there was no reasonable excuse for the appellant’s late payment.
The appellant was due to pay income tax for 2014/15 by 31 January 2016. He tried to pay the tax by cheque. However, the cheque was dishonoured by the appellant’s bank for an unknown reason, even though he had sufficient funds available for the cheque to be honoured.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) imposed a late payment penalty (under FA 2009, Sch 56, para 1(1)), as the appellant’s replacement cheque was not received until 17 March 2016 (i.e. more than 30 days after the due date). The appellant appealed. He argued that the first chance to monitor his bank statement and discover that the cheque had been dishonoured was on 1 March 2016.
The appellant contended that he “cannot be expected to
