Penalties for late submission of SDLT forms

[Chaddesley Accountants]

Due to incompetent solicitors SDLT forms for a transaction that happened over three years ago (and for which we paid the SDLT to the solicitors over three years ago) have only now been filed. We have received a penalty notice for around £3k interest and the fixed £200 penalty for late submission of the forms. However, I understand that there is potentially an additional, tax geared, penalty for late form submission of up to 100% of the tax because the forms were more than a year late.

When I spoke to the SDLT helpline the guy told me that in 8 years of working there he'd never seen this discretionary penalty issued but the threat is still hanging over us. Does anyone know what the likelihood of receiving this penalty is and, if we do, what the likelihood of appealing on the basis that as far as we (the directors of the company who owed the tax) were aware it had been paid and the relevant forms filed by or solicitor?

 

[Elemental CoSec]

I'm sorry I can't help on the SDLT fines but I would say that if it's genuinely the fault of the solicitor then they should be paying it, not you. Have you raised this with them?

 

[Flash Online Designers]

2 Questions...


1) Have you paid the tax due (in which case you may be able to appeal as they have their money, it is simply an administration problem)

2) Why post this on a public forum with a link to your company? If I was considering your company and I saw this I would be very concerned that you failed to oversee the process, and have to ask for advice on a public forum.


Stu

 

[APC RoadLink]

2 Questions...

2) Why post this on a public forum with a link to your company? If I was considering your company and I saw this I would be very concerned that you failed to oversee the process, and have to ask for advice on a public forum.

Stu

We can all get it wrong at times, asking for help not for business give him a break.

 

[Flash Online Designers]

We can all get it wrong at times, asking for help not for business give him a break.

Yes, may be harsh, but is true! Perhaps he could delete the thread and repost in another name, just doesn't seem professional (just my opinion though)

 

[David Griffiths]

Yes, may be harsh, but is true! Perhaps he could delete the thread and repost in another name, just doesn't seem professional (just my opinion though)

It might be true for you, but I very much doubt that other people would have the slightest problem with it.

The money was paid to the solicitors. What else do you expect him to do? Set up camp in the solicitors' offices and make sure that they send the documents to be stamped? Get real. He's appointed professionals to do the job and is quite entitled to assume that they'd do it properly, in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

 

[Chaddesley Accountants]

Firstly, the issue arises on a family property investment business and is nothing to do with my own accountancy practice.

Maybe I was a little unwise to post under my business log-in (and as a result I will seek to have the thread removed) but as David points out, the issue arose as a result of the solicitors that we had employed to oversee this process failing in their duty to do so. I am an accountant not a conveyancer. As such I am aware that the SDLT was due and so the payment was made to the family solicitors, at their request, three years ago on the reasonable assumption that they would then deal with the paperwork.

Never the less, the purpose of my posting was not to try and determine where the blame lies (I'm pretty confident I know the answer to this and am dealing with it accordingly) but rather to see if anyone had experience of a similar issue and could provide any guidance as to the likelihood of being issued with the discretionary penalty for late submission of the forms.