Unauthorised payments surcharge–no relief available where reliance on scammers assurances (Franklin v Revenue & Customs Commissioners)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What is the legal background?
• Unauthorised payments, member tax charges and appeals
• Pensions liberation
• Previous case law
• What was the background to this case?
• What did the court decide?

Article summary

Pensions analysis: Claire Carroll, head of pensions disputes and Richard Bacon, senior associate, both at Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP, examine the First-tier Tribunal’s (FTT) decision in Franklin v Revenue & Customs Commissioners that involved the question of whether a member subject to a pensions liberation scam can receive relief from an unauthorised payments surcharge under the ‘just and reasonable’ test in section 268 of the Finance Act 2004 (FA 2004), on the basis that she had relied on the word of the promoters of the scam.