Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 section 54

Reasonable excuse for failure to keep and preserve records

Section 54 of Schedule 23 extends the reasonable excuse defence for failing to keep and preserve records so that it also covers the new return requirements introduced for land transaction tax.

• This paragraph amends section 144 of the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016, which deals with reasonable excuses for not keeping records.
• Section 144 previously allowed a reasonable excuse defence in relation to records required under section 38 of that Act.
• The amendment adds a reference to the new section 38A, ensuring the reasonable excuse defence also applies to record-keeping obligations connected with that new provision.
• This means that where a person has a genuine reasonable excuse for failing to keep or preserve records required under either section 38 or the new section 38A, they will not be liable to a penalty.