Reliance on the advice of an adviser who indicated that no action was needed in response to information notices was not a reasonable excuse for the purposes of an appeal against penalties charged for failure to comply with the information notices. 

The first appellant (H) was the administrator of a pension scheme. The second appellant (M) was the administrator of a different pension scheme. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued information notices to H and M. At the time, a company (LD) operated the schemes on behalf of the scheme administrators as a practitioner. Following receipt of the information notices, LD engaged advisers (IT) on the matter and to correspond with HMRC on the appellants’ behalf.  

LD advised the appellants that IT’s view was that, as the pension scheme had been wound up, there “should be no need to respond” to provide the information requested by the information notices. IT subsequently made