SAOG20500 - Reasonable excuse: what is not a reasonable excuse
While the Customer Compliance Manager (CCM), Mid-sized Business Customer Engagement Team (CET) or Caseworker must consider all relevant circumstances, there are some situations which we will not normally accept alone as a reasonable excuse
- Pressure of work.
- Lack of information.
- HMRC did not remind me.
- Ignorance of basic law.
What is or is not a reasonable excuse is personal to the individual’s abilities and circumstances. Those abilities and circumstances may mean that what is a reasonable excuse for one person may not be a reasonable excuse for another.
The law specifies two situations that are not reasonable excuses. These are
- shortage of funds, see SAOG20600 for more detail and an exception, and
- reliance on another person, see SAOG20700 for more detail and an exception.
FA09/SCH46/PARA8 (2)(a) & (b)