PENALTIES FOR DIY HOUSEBUILDERS

摘要

The tribunal decision in the case of Howells (TC 04589) will be useful for practitioners dealing with claims made by DIY housebuilders in cases of error. Although traditionally HMRC has rarely imposed penalties where the claims have been found to be incorrect, they decided to do so in the case of Mr and Mrs Howells. In their case, HMRC rejected the entire claim owing to the failure to produce cogent evidence (regarding the occupation of the property previously). While the claimants were sure that the property qualified for the relief, they abandoned their claim once they realised that they could not fully prove it.