United Kingdom VAT & Duties Tribunals Decisions

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom VAT & Duties Tribunals Decisions >> Crawford v Customs and Excise [2004] UKVAT V18794 (06 October 2004)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKVAT/2004/V18794.html
Cite as: [2004] UKVAT V18794

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Crawford v Customs and Excise [2004] UKVAT V18794 (06 October 2004)

18794

Default Surcharge: Late payment. Reasonable excuse as ground of appeal. Limited by S71. Appeal dismissed.

EDINBURGH TRIBUNAL CENTRE

WILLIAM STUART CRAWFORD

T/A

THE ORCHARD HOTEL Appellant

- and -

THE COMMISSIONERS OF CUSTOMS AND EXCISE Respondents

Tribunal: (Chairman): MRS G PRITCHARD, BL., MBA., WS

Sitting in Edinburgh on Wednesday 6th October 2004

for the Appellant HEARD ON PAPERS ONLY

for the Respondents Mr A McCue

© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2004.


 


DECISION

This is an appeal against a Default Surcharge in respect of the quarter 02/03 having a due date of payment of 31/03/03, in the sum of £831.02.

The Appellant had entered the default surcharge regime in the quarter 05/02, and had again been overdue in payment in the quarter 09/02. Because of the method of applying the default surcharge by writing off minimal sums, no default surcharge had been levied though payment was late.

Therefore when the 02/03 quarter payment was late and the default surcharge levy had risen to 10% the amount due rose to £831.02 and was applied.

To have success in an appeal, a reasonable excuse must be available to an Appellant. The Value Added Tax Act 1994 denies the Appellant certain excuses.

S71 (1)(b) provides that:….

where reliance is placed 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.

The only excuse offered by the Appellant was reliance on a member of staff and his accountants which cannot be deemed reasonable in the circumstances.

The appeal is therefore dismissed. No expenses due to or by either party.

MRS G PRITCHARD, BL., MBA., WS

CHAIRMAN

RELEASE: 6 OCTOBER 2004

EDN/004/70