Commentary on Provisions Part 5 – Enforcement of the levy and penalties Chapter 3 – Penalties Section 58 – Reasonable excuse for failure to comply or obstruction
97.This section provides that no liability to a penalty arises under sections 56 or 57 where a person has a reasonable excuse for the failure to comply or the obstruction (subsection (1)). An insufficiency of funds is not a reasonable excuse (subsection (2)(a)), nor is that the person relied on another person to do things (unless the person who failed to comply or was responsible for the obstruction took reasonable care to avoid the failure or obstruction – subsection (2)(b)). While it will depend on the precise circumstances, examples of things which may qualify as a reasonable excuse include serious unexpected illness, an unforeseen collapse of a person’s IT system (meaning that information or documents could not be provided), or the person’s office being unsafe for the officer to enter (because of damage caused by fire or flooding for example). Where the reasonable excuse ceases to apply, the person who failed to comply or was responsible for the obstruction is still able to rely on the excuse, provided the failure is remedied, or the obstruction stops, without unreasonable delay (subsection (2)(c)).