If the failure continues after the General Commissioners have
imposed an initial penalty (see AH3715) the question of imposing a
further penalty for each day on which the failure continues will
arise.
Where a Commissioners’ meeting is arranged to receive
any particulars or documents and you intend to mention penalties,
you will have to inform all parties in advance. You must tell the
taxpayer, his agent and the Clerk to the Commissioners of your
intentions.
You should follow the procedure at AH3715, adapted as
necessary.
If, at the subsequent date on which the Commissioners meet to
consider the appeal/s before them, the taxpayer has still not
complied with the Notice and the Commissioners decide to impose a
continuing penalty, the appropriate form of certificate is form
82H. This should be completed and signed (by the Commissioners) in
triplicate, one copy being sent or handed to the taxpayer and the
others being retained by the Clerk and HMRC respectively.
It is important that these continuing penalties are expressed
by the Commissioners in terms of a daily rate for a specified
number of days and not in one global sum. Failure to do so can lead
to enforcement and collection problems.
You should endeavour to get the Commissioners to follow this
format but remember that the authority for imposing these penalties
rests with them and not with HMRC.
When, the Commissioners have imposed an initial and two sets
of continuing penalties and the taxpayer has still not complied
with the Regulation 10 notice, you should make a report with your
file to Central Policy, Tax Administration Advice (Stockport).
The Area Director (Compliance) or the nominated grade 6
Inspector should carefully re-check the validity of the Notice and
the three penalties imposed to see whether there is any flaw or
defect in them, or in the underlying procedures, which make
collection of the penalties impractical. The report should include
information on whether the initial and continuing penalties have
been paid how enforcement is progressing.
See AH3855 regarding collection of the penalty.
