[2011] UKFTT 293 (TC)
TC01155
Appeal number: TC/2011/00573
VAT default surcharge - 15% penalty - whether reasonable excuse - no - penalty of £18,453 - whether disproportionate - on the facts, no - appeal dismissed
FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL
TAX
EASTWELL MANOR LIMITED Appellant
- and -
TRIBUNAL: ANNE REDSTON (PRESIDING MEMBER)
JULIAN STAFFORD (TRIBUNAL MEMBER)
Sitting in public at Ashford House, County Square, Ashford, Kent on Monday 18 April 2011
Mark Parrett, director of Eastwell Manor Limited, for the Appellant
Hugh O’Leary, Appeals and Reviews Unit, HM Revenue and Customs, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2011
DECISION
Legislation and concession
4. The Company was on a quarterly basis for VAT, so its VAT return and the related payment were due on or before the end of the month following each calendar quarter[1].
5. HMRC have discretion to allow extra time for both filing and payment when these are carried out by electronic means[2]. Under that discretion, HMRC allow a further seven days for such electronic filing and payment. The rules are set out in By VAT Notice 700 at paragraph 21.5, which paragraph includes the following (with emboldening in the original text).
“If you choose to pay the VAT shown as due on your return by Bankers Automated Clearing System (BACS), Bank Giro Credit Transfer or Clearing House Automated Payment System (CHAPS), you may receive up to 7 extra calendar days for the return and payment to reach us. Here are some important facts you need to know if you want to benefit from this concession:
· The 7 day extension to the due date will be applied automatically every time you pay your VAT return using BACS Direct Credit or Bank Giro Credit Transfer. You may also pay by CHAPS but please note that this may be the most expensive payment method for you. Payment cannot be made via Girobank.
· Payment must be in our bank account on or before the 7th calendar day. If the 7th day falls on a weekend, we must receive payment by the Friday. When the 7th day falls on a bank holiday, payment must be in our bank account by the last working day beforehand.
· To make sure that your payment reaches us in time, you should check with your bank how many days they need to complete the transaction.”
Evidence
6. Mr Parrett represented the Company and also gave oral evidence on its behalf.
8. From the evidence before us we find the following facts.
Facts
The VAT payments and defaults
9. The Company’s VAT payment history, so far as relevant to this Appeal, is as follows:
Period to |
VAT due £ |
Due date |
Method |
Date paid |
Paid by due date £ |
Rate of sur-charge |
Amount
£ |
No. of default |
30/6/08 |
197,103 |
31/7/08 |
cheque |
12/8/08 |
Nil |
0% |
0 |
1 |
31/12/08 |
137,711 |
31/1/09 |
cheque |
9/2/09 |
Nil |
2% |
2,754 |
2 |
31/3/09 |
67,202 |
30/4/09 |
cheque |
8/5/09 |
nil |
5% |
3,360 |
3 |
31/3/10 |
110,907 |
7/5/10 |
CHAPS |
10/5/10 12/5/10 |
50,000 |
10% |
6,090 |
4 |
30/6/10 |
139,094 |
31/7/10 |
electronic |
Due date |
all |
- |
- |
- |
30/9/10 |
123,024 |
7/11/10 |
BACS |
8/11/10 |
nil |
15% |
18,453 |
5 |
Background
Submissions for the Company
20. Mr Parrett said he understood the law on reasonable excuse and accepted that the Company did not fall within its scope. However, he argued the surcharge was disproportionate. He relied on the First-tier Tribunal decision of Enersys Holdings UK Ltd v R&C Commissioners [2010] UKFTT 20 (TC) (“Enersys”), and drew attention to the similarities between that case and the Company’s position.
Submissions for HMRC
24. This Schedule contained the following information:
(1) details of the Business Payment Support Service, including its telephone number;
(2) a paragraph which said “if you can’t pay the full amount shown on the VAT return, you should consider making a part payment by the due date. That will reduce the amount of surcharge as it is based on a percentage of the VAT that remains unpaid at the due date”;
(3) details of the 7 day extension, together with a reminder that “if the 7th day falls on a weekend or bank holiday, payment must reach our account by the last working day beforehand.”
26. He drew the Tribunal’s attention to the recent First-tier Tribunal decision of Kaizen Search v R&C Commissioners [2010] UKFTT 20 (TC) (“Kaizen”). This case was distinguished from Enersys on the facts, and a penalty of £6,901.85 was not found to be disproportionate.
Discussion and decision
Reasonable excuse
Proportionality - the principles
37. If a penalty is disproportionate to the gravity of the offence, it is clear from the authorities that the Tribunal has a duty under European law to intervene (Garage Molenheide BVBA and others v Belgium (Joined cases C-286/94, C-340/95, C-401/95 and C-47/96) [1998] STC 126).
38. The Human Rights Act 1998 obliges the Tribunal to comply with Convention rights, and these also require that there be “a reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means employed and the aim pursued”, see Gasus Dosier-und Fördertechnik GmbH v Netherlands (Application 15375/89) (1995) 20 EHRR 403.
40. In International Transport Roth GmbH v Home Secretary [2003] QB 728 at [26] Simon Brown LJ set out the test for assessing proportionality. He said:
“… it seems to me that ultimately one single question arises for determination by the court: is the scheme not merely harsh but plainly unfair so that, however effectively that unfairness may assist in achieving the social goal, it simply cannot be permitted? In addressing this question I for my part would recognise a wide discretion in the Secretary of State in his task of devising a suitable scheme, and a high degree of deference due by the court to Parliament when it comes to determining its legality. Our law is now replete with dicta at the very highest level commending the courts to show such deference.”
41. The “not merely harsh but plainly unfair” test sets a high threshold before a court or tribunal can find that a penalty, correctly levied on the taxpayer by statutory provisions set by parliament, should be struck down as disproportionate. Perhaps higher still is the threshold set by Waller LJ in R (Federation of Tour Operators) v HM Treasury [2008] STC 2524 at [32], when he said that the penalty in that case was disproportionate as it was “devoid of reasonable foundation”.
42. Earlier Tribunals have considered whether proportionality was a test which applied to the whole default surcharge system, or whether it was possible to consider individual penalties. We agreed with Judge Bishopp in Enersys, when he said at [55]:
“I see no inherent difficulty in the possibility that a usually reasonable and—within the bounds of the state’s margin of appreciation—proportionate system might occasionally lead to an unacceptable result, one which cannot be salvaged by recourse to the proposition that because, by and large, the system produces reasonable results the occasional disproportionate outcome must be tolerated, and an individual taxpayer’s rights offended, in the interests of the greater good.”
45. But Greengate was decided before the introduction of the extra seven day period given for electronic payments, introduced with effect from 22 July 2004[3]. This provides businesses with further flexibility, allowing them longer to establish their VAT position and to organise payments. It thus plays some role in mitigating the harshness of the regime.
Proportionality - application
(1) whether the default was “innocent” or “deliberate”;
(2) the number of days of the default;
(3) the absolute amount of the penalty, about which he said “The absence of an upper limit may be justifiable upon the basis that it is a necessary consequence of a tax-geared penalty, though in my view there must come a time, even in the case of a large company, when that justification breaks down”;
(4) the “inexact correlation of turnover and penalty”; and
(5) the absence of any power to mitigate.
“For example, two manufacturers may have similar levels of turnover and profit, but if the major cost component of the products of one is attributable to standard-rated raw materials, he will have a smaller exposure than the other, whose product has a high labour content, since the former will, and the latter will not, have a large amount of input tax to set against his output tax, leaving a smaller net liability—the penalty being assessed by reference to the net liability.”
60. We therefore dismiss the appeal and confirm the surcharge.
Concluding remarks
“Please note that you cannot appeal simply on the grounds that you consider a surcharge is too severe. The rates of surcharge are laid down in law, and the law grants neither this Department nor the VAT Tribunal [sic] any discretion to mitigate any surcharge…
The Tribunal will only remove a surcharge if:
(a) it is satisfied that the taxpayer had a reasonable expectation that the return and/or payment would be received by HMRC by the due date; or
(b) there is a reasonable excuse for the return or tax not having been sent in on time.”
The Value Added Tax Act 1994
S59 Default Surcharge
59 The default surcharge
(1) Subject to subsection (1A) below If, by the last day on which a taxable person is required in accordance with regulations under this Act to furnish a return for a prescribed accounting period—
(a) the Commissioners have not received that return, or
(b) the Commissioners have received that return but have not received the amount of VAT shown on the return as payable by him in respect of that period,
then that person shall be regarded for the purposes of this section as being in default in respect of that period.
(1A) A person shall not be regarded for the purposes of this section as being in default in respect of any prescribed accounting period if that period is one in respect of which he is required by virtue of any order under section 28 to make any payment on account of VAT.
(2) Subject to subsections (9) and (10) below, subsection (4) below applies in any case where—
(a) a taxable person is in default in respect of a prescribed accounting period; and
(b) the Commissioners serve notice on the taxable person (a “surcharge liability notice”) specifying as a surcharge period for the purposes of this section a period ending on the first anniversary of the last day of the period referred to in paragraph (a) above and beginning, subject to subsection (3) below, on the date of the notice.
(3) If a surcharge liability notice is served by reason of a default in respect of a prescribed accounting period and that period ends at or before the expiry of an existing surcharge period already notified to the taxable person concerned, the surcharge period specified in that notice shall be expressed as a continuation of the existing surcharge period and, accordingly, for the purposes of this section, that existing period and its extension shall be regarded as a single surcharge period.
(4) Subject to subsections (7) to (10) below, if a taxable person on whom a surcharge liability notice has been served—
(a) is in default in respect of a prescribed accounting period ending within the surcharge period specified in (or extended by) that notice, and
(b) has outstanding VAT for that prescribed accounting period,
he shall be liable to a surcharge equal to whichever is the greater of the following, namely, the specified percentage of his outstanding VAT for that prescribed accounting period and £30.
(5) Subject to subsections (7) to (10) below, the specified percentage referred to in subsection (4) above shall be determined in relation to a prescribed accounting period by reference to the number of such periods in respect of which the taxable person is in default during the surcharge period and for which he has outstanding VAT, so that—
(a) in relation to the first such prescribed accounting period, the specified percentage is 2 per cent;
(b) in relation to the second such period, the specified percentage is 5 per cent;
(c) in relation to the third such period, the specified percentage is 10 per cent; and
(d) in relation to each such period after the third, the specified percentage is 15 per cent.
(6) For the purposes of subsections (4) and (5) above a person has outstanding VAT for a prescribed accounting period if some or all of the VAT for which he is liable in respect of that period has not been paid by the last day on which he is required (as mentioned in subsection (1) above) to make a return for that period; and the reference in subsection (4) above to a person's outstanding VAT for a prescribed accounting period is to so much of the VAT for which he is so liable as has not been paid by that day.
(7) If a person who, apart from this subsection, would be liable to a surcharge under subsection (4) above satisfies the Commissioners or, on appeal, a tribunal that, in the case of a default which is material to the surcharge—
(a) the return or, as the case may be, the VAT shown on the return was despatched at such a time and in such a manner that it was reasonable to expect that it would be received by the Commissioners within the appropriate time limit, or
(b) there is a reasonable excuse for the return or VAT not having been so despatched,
he shall not be liable to the surcharge and for the purposes of the preceding provisions of this section he shall be treated as not having been in default in respect of the prescribed accounting period in question (and, accordingly, any surcharge liability notice the service of which depended upon that default shall be deemed not to have been served).
(8) For the purposes of subsection (7) above, a default is material to a surcharge if—
(a) it is the default which, by virtue of subsection (4) above, gives rise to the surcharge; or
(b) it is a default which was taken into account in the service of the surcharge liability notice upon which the surcharge depends and the person concerned has not previously been liable to a surcharge in respect of a prescribed accounting period ending within the surcharge period specified in or extended by that notice.
(9) In any case where—
(a) the conduct by virtue of which a person is in default in respect of a prescribed accounting period is also conduct falling within section 69(1), and
(b) by reason of that conduct, the person concerned is assessed to a penalty under that section,
the default shall be left out of account for the purposes of subsections (2) to (5) above.
(10) If the Commissioners, after consultation with the Treasury, so direct, a default in respect of a prescribed accounting period specified in the direction shall be left out of account for the purposes of subsections (2) to (5) above.
(11) For the purposes of this section references to a thing's being done by any day include references to its being done on that day.
S71 Construction of sections 59 to 70
(1) For the purposes of any provision of sections 59 to 70 which refers to a reasonable excuse for any conduct-
(a) an insufficiency of funds to pay any VAT due is not reasonable excuse; and
(b) where reliance is place on any other person to perform any task, neither the fact of that reliance nor any dilatoriness or inaccuracy on the part of the person relied upon is a reasonable excuse.
(2) …..