Suspension of penalties: deferred payment agreement
In The Copperfields Restaurant v HMRC (TC01974 – 21 May) a partnership which operated a restaurant suffered financial difficulties (and subsequently ceased trading). In 2008 it negotiated a ‘time to pay’ agreement with HMRC. However HMRC imposed surcharges for the return periods ending in 2009 and defended the surcharges on the basis that the ‘time to pay’ agreement had expired after November 2008. The partnership appealed contending that the effect of FA 2009 s 108 was that it was not liable to the surcharges. The First-tier Tribunal accepted the partnership’s evidence and allowed its appeal finding that HMRC had failed to inform the partnership that the agreement was no longer in force. Therefore ‘the time to pay agreement continued throughout the periods of default’ and there was no justification for the surcharges.
Suspension of penalties: deferred payment agreement
In The Copperfields Restaurant v HMRC (TC01974 – 21 May) a partnership which operated a restaurant suffered financial difficulties (and subsequently ceased trading). In 2008 it negotiated a ‘time to pay’ agreement with HMRC. However HMRC imposed surcharges for the return periods ending in 2009 and defended the surcharges on the basis that the ‘time to pay’ agreement had expired after November 2008. The partnership appealed contending that the effect of FA 2009 s 108 was that it was not liable to the surcharges. The First-tier Tribunal accepted the partnership’s evidence and allowed its appeal finding that HMRC had failed to inform the partnership that the agreement was no longer in force. Therefore ‘the time to pay agreement continued throughout the periods of default’ and there was no justification for the surcharges.
