{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2020/schedule-8/paragraph-54",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2020/schedule-8/paragraph-54.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2020/14",
  "legislation_title": "Finance Act 2020",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-2020",
  "path": "schedule/8/paragraph/54",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "54",
  "heading": null,
  "text": "(1) Liability to a penalty under paragraph 52 or 53 in relation to a failure to make a return does not arise if the person (“P”) satisfies HMRC or (on appeal) the tribunal that there is a reasonable excuse for the failure.\n(2) For that purpose—\n(a) an insufficiency of funds is not a reasonable excuse,\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": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/14/schedule/8/paragraph/54",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:01:44.314864+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."
}