IHTM36106 - Incorrect account, information or document: s.248(1) penalty

IHTA84/S248 (1) applies to situations where a person makes a wholly innocent error in an account, information or document that they have delivered, furnished or produced and where the error is not the result of any fraud (IHTM36291) or negligence (IHTM36301) on the taxpayer’s part. A penalty may be payable if that person

• subsequently notices the error, but then
• fails to tell us about it without unreasonable delay.

You should generally regard an unreasonable delay as being

• more than 6 months - if the error was in an account, or
• more than 30 days - if the case of an error in information provided or in a document.

This time limit runs from the time when the person becomes aware, or ought reasonably to be aware, that the error is material. This may not always be the same date as when the asset is discovered, if the taxpayer has no indication of its value at the date of discovery.

The maximum penalty payable is the same as for a penalty for negligence under IHTA84/S247 (1) (IHTM36103).

You should not seek a penalty for a corrective account that is delivered late if we have allowed the customer to save up their amendments (IHTM10806).