RSTP6009 - Reasonable excuse for late notice of review or appeal

For information on Revenue Scotland’s approach to penalty activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, see COVID-19 Penalties and Debt

We will carefully consider the facts and circumstances of your individual case when deciding whether we are satisfied that you have a ‘reasonable excuse’ for requesting a late notice of review or appeal and that the request has been made without unreasonable delay (see RSTP6006 and RSTP6008 respectively).

What is a reasonable excuse for one person may not be a reasonable excuse for another. The following examples are intended to provide an indication of what we might consider to be a reasonable excuse but are not exhaustive nor are they binding on us:

• you have suffered a sudden and serious illness during the dates when you could have given a notice of review or appeal, or have been affected by a prolonged and serious illness throughout this same period;
• an unavoidable and unexpected absence, such as a domestic emergency, close to the time limit for giving a notice of review or appeal, although whether it would have been possible for you to submit the notice at an earlier point in time may also be relevant here;
• the accidental destruction of key records or information through fire or flood or similar incident;unless there is evidence to the contrary, you claim to have given the notice of review or appeal in good time but it has not been received by us or the tribunal respectively, and we are satisfied that you posted the notice; and
• a sudden disruption to your business or associated business records such as a break-in or the installation of a new computer system which has hit unexpected teething problems.

In all the above examples we would expect you to have given notice of a review or an appeal as soon as the reason for the delay ceased to have effect.

We will not generally consider the following claims to be a reasonable excuse:

• the failure to give a notice of review or appeal in time is due to your agent;
• information relevant to the review or appeal was not available by the due date for the notice of review or appeal;
• your affairs are too complicated for you to have been able to give a notice of review or appeal on time;
• you were too busy running your own business; or
• you are not liable to pay any tax for the period for which the appealable decision was made, or you have overpaid tax.

RSTPA 2014 section 236

RSTPA 2014 section 243