{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2009/schedule-56/paragraph-16",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2009/schedule-56/paragraph-16.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2009/10",
  "legislation_title": "Finance Act 2009",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2009",
  "path": "schedule/56/paragraph/16",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "16",
  "heading": null,
  "text": "(1) If P satisfies HMRC or (on appeal) the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal that there is a reasonable excuse for a failure to make a payment—\n(a) liability to a penalty under any paragraph of this Schedule does not arise in relation to that failure, and\n(b) the failure does not count as a default for the purposes of paragraphs 6, 8B, 8C, 8G and 8H.\n(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)—\n(a) an insufficiency of funds is not a reasonable excuse unless attributable to events outside P's control,\n(b) where P relies on any other person to do anything, that is not a reasonable excuse unless P took reasonable care to avoid the failure, and\n(c) where P had a reasonable excuse for the failure but the excuse has ceased, P is to be treated as having continued to have the excuse if the failure is remedied without unreasonable delay after the excuse ceased.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Sch. 56 para. 16(1) substituted (25.1.2011 for specified purposes) by Finance (No. 3) Act 2010 (c. 33), s. 27(2), Sch. 11 para. 10; S.I. 2011/132, art. 3"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C1",
      "text": "Sch. 56 paras. 9-18 applied in part (with modifications) (17.7.2014) by Finance Act 2014 (c. 26), s. 226(7)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Sch. 56 para. 16 in force at 6.4.2010 for specified purposes by S.I. 2010/466, art. 3"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I2",
      "text": "Sch. 56 para. 16 in force at 6.4.2011 for specified purposes by S.I. 2011/702, art. 3"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I3",
      "text": "Sch. 56 para. 16 in force at 17.7.2013 for specified purposes by 2013 c. 29, Sch. 34 para. 12Sch. 56 para. 16 in force at 15.9.2016 for specified purposes by 2016 c. 24, s. 113(18) (with s. 117)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I4",
      "text": "Sch. 56 para. 16 in force at 6.4.2018 for specified purposes by S.I. 2018/468, art. 2(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I5",
      "text": "Sch. 56 para. 16 in force at 12.2.2019 for specified purposes by 2019 c. 1, Sch. 2 para. 30(5)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I6",
      "text": "Sch. 56 para. 16 in force at 1.4.2022 for specified purposes by S.I. 2021/1409, reg. 2(b)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "ukpga/2013/29",
      "affecting_title": "Finance Act 2013"
    },
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "ukpga/2013/29",
      "affecting_title": "Finance Act 2013"
    },
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "ukpga/2014/26",
      "affecting_title": "Finance Act 2014"
    },
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "ukpga/2014/26",
      "affecting_title": "Finance Act 2014"
    },
    {
      "type": "words inserted",
      "affecting": "ukpga/2016/24",
      "affecting_title": "Finance Act 2016"
    },
    {
      "type": "word inserted",
      "affecting": "ukpga/2016/24",
      "affecting_title": "Finance Act 2016"
    },
    {
      "type": "words inserted",
      "affecting": "ukpga/2020/14",
      "affecting_title": "Finance Act 2020"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/10/schedule/56/paragraph/16",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:11:08.872832+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}