A taxpayer who was diagnosed with a terminal illness did not have a reasonable excuse for the late payment of tax, and his appeal against penalties was therefore dismissed.
The appellant filed his tax return for 2010/11 online on 6 January 2012, and chose to calculate his own tax liability. He subsequently incurred penalties for the late payment of his tax liability.
An appeal was lodged against the late payment penalties, on the grounds that the appellant had collapsed in July 2011, and was subsequently diagnosed as having a brain tumour. He stated that his illness prevented him from paying the tax liability by the due date.
HMRC contended before the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that for a taxpayer to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for failing to comply with their legal obligations, the individual must show that action had been taken to correct that breach of obligations as soon as possible. However,
