20181

DEFAULT SURCHARGE – Reasonable excuse – Late payment – Unsigned cheque – Customs did not notify Appellant that cheque had been returned unpaid until too late for Appellant to pay electronically – Appeal dismissed

LONDON TRIBUNAL CENTRE

	PERSONAL PARKING LTD	           Appellant

-	and –

	THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HER MAJESTY’S REVENUE & CUSTOMS 	 Respondents

				Tribunal:	SIR STEPHEN OLIVER QC (Chairman)

Sitting in public in London on 9 May 2007

Mr D T Foreman, director, for the Appellant 

Mr S Chambers for the Respondents

© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2007

DECISION

1.	Personal Parking Limited appeals against a ten percent default surcharge for the 09/05 period in the amount of £5,270.80.

2.	Personal Parking was represented by its director, Mr D T Foreman, who also gave evidence.  Personal Parking provides facilities for outdoor events throughout the UK and has done so for many years.

3.	The return and a cheque for the period 09/05 were received by Customs at the VAT Central Unit on 1 November 2005.  The cheque was presented for payment but returned unpaid because it had not been signed as a result of an oversight on Mr Foreman’s part.

4.	The case for Personal Parking is based on the following ground.  The fact that the cheque was unsigned had been drawn to Customs’ attention on 4 November and, had Customs then notified Personal Parking, Personal Parking could have made an electronic payment within the seven day deadline referred to in Form VAT 943.

5.	Customs say that a genuine error of this sort does not amount to a reasonable excuse.  Customs say that the fact that they had not given Personal Parking the opportunity to pay electronically cannot change the position.  It so happened (I was told) that, on 4 November 2006, some £1,000 cheques had been returned unpaid.  It was pointed out for Customs, in a letter of 16 November 2006, that the VCU had not been in a position to commence any action with Personal Parking’s cheque until Personal Parking’s VAT account showed the cheque as unpaid; that had not happened until 11 November 2005.

6.	I cannot accept Personal Parking’s argument.  It was Personal Parking’s responsibility to pay the tax for the 09/05 period by the due date.  It chose to pay by cheque.  It was for it to submit a properly signed cheque.  Customs cannot, in my view, be held responsible for Mr Foreman’s failure to sign the cheque.

7.	In this connection I should point out that Section 71(1)(b) of VAT Act 1994 excludes as a reasonable excuse a person’s reliance on another person to perform any task.  The fact that Customs failed to spot the lack of signature before presenting it, or on 4 November failed to notify Personal Parking that it had been returned unpaid, cannot therefore amount to a reasonable excuse on Personal Parking’s part.

8.	This Tribunal has no authority to consider any of mitigating                  circumstances put forward by Mr Foreman on Personal Parking’s behalf.

9.	For those reasons I have to dismiss the appeal.

SIR STEPHEN OLIVER QC
CHAIRMAN

RELEASED: 31 May 2007

LON/2006/1570