19024
LONDON TRIBUNAL CENTRE				Reference No: LON/2004/2344

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								Appellant/Applicant 

								Respondents

	MRS SUSAN WOODS	Appellant
	
	- and -

	THE COMMISSIONERS OF CUSTOMS AND EXCISE	Respondents
	Tribunal: STEPHEN OLIVER QC (Chairman)
                                                      MR S K DAS
                                                     
	Sitting in public in London on 9 March 2005
	DIRECTION
	under Rule 30(8)
THIS APPEAL against a decision of the Respondents with respect to a Default Surcharge being a reasonable excuse appeal as defined by rule 2 of the Value Added Tax Tribunals Rules 1986 as amended and a mitigation appeal coming on for hearing this day

AND UPON HEARING the Appellant in person and Alistair Dougal for the Respondents

AND THE parties present at the hearing by their said representative stating pursuant to Rule 30(8) of the Value Added Tax Tribunals Rules 1986 as amended that they do not require the said decision to be recorded in a written document in accordance with Rule 30(1) of the said Rules

THIS TRIBUNAL FINDS THAT the Appellant did not have a reasonable excuse for her failure to notify her liability to register in time.  Reliance on her accountant’s advice and the accountant’s failure to register are excluded from ranking as reasonable excuses

THIS TRIBUNAL FURTHER FINDS that the 50 per cent mitigation given to the Appellant for her prompt reaction to the discovery that she should have registered should be increased by a further 20 per cent to reflect the fact that we are satisfied on the evidence that her failure to register in time was attributable to the advice she had received from her accountant

AND THIS TRIBUNAL DIRECTS THAT this appeal is ALLOWED in part and the mitigation should be increased by 20 per cent to 70 per cent
AND that there is to be no direction as to costs
STEPHEN OLIVER QC
Chairman
Release Date: 24 March 2005