Legislation – Finance Act 2026
Changes to legislation:
Finance Act 2026, Section 201 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 16 April 2026. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.![]()
Changes to Legislation
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Changes and effects yet to be applied to Section 201:
- Pt. 15 excluded by S.I. 2026/331 reg. 19
Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Act associated Parts and Chapters:
Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Act (including any effects on those provisions):
- Pt. 15 excluded by S.I. 2026/331 reg. 19
Part 6Avoidance
Chapter 3Anti-avoidance information notices
Sanctions: general
201Reasonable excuse
For the purposes of sections 189(1)(a) (offence of failing to comply), 192 (criminal liability of responsible persons: no prosecution of recipient), 194 (penalty for failing to comply), 197 (penalty for disclosing) and 198 (penalty based on monies received)—
(a)
an insufficiency of funds is not a reasonable excuse unless attributable to events outside the person’s control,
(b)
if the person relies on any other person to do anything, that is not a reasonable excuse unless the first person took reasonable care to avoid the failure,
(c)
if the person had a reasonable excuse for the failure but the excuse has ceased, the person is to be treated as having continued to have the excuse if the failure is remedied without unreasonable delay after the excuse ceased, and
(d)
reliance on legal advice is to be taken automatically not to constitute a reasonable excuse if either—
(i)
the advice was not based on a full and accurate description of the facts, or
(ii)
the conclusions in the advice that the person relied upon were unreasonable.