Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 section 77

Reasonable excuse for failure to keep and preserve records

Section 77 explains when a person can avoid a penalty for failing to keep and preserve records by demonstrating they had a reasonable excuse for the failure.

• A person who can satisfy Revenue Scotland or the tax tribunal that they had a reasonable excuse for failing to keep records will not be liable for a penalty.
• A lack of funds is only accepted as a reasonable excuse if it was caused by events outside the person's control.
• Relying on another person to keep or preserve records is not a reasonable excuse unless the taxpayer took reasonable care to avoid the failure.
• If a reasonable excuse existed but later ceased, the person is still treated as having the excuse provided they remedied the failure without unreasonable delay after the excuse ended.