A firm has been told to pay its fine for completing a Gabriel return late after a complaint against the Financial Conduct Authority has thrown out.
This is the latest in a string of complaints against the FCA from people who have failed to submit their return on time - most of which have been dismissed.
In the latest complaint, the firm said it had received a £250 late return fee for not completing its Gabriel return by the deadline but did not believe it should pay the fee because it had not received a letter or email reminding it to submit the return.
The FCA insisted it had sent two reminders but the firm said it was "unfair" that the regulator only sends emails when communicating with firms without using "read receipts".
Complaints commissioner Antony Townsend said there was "no dispute" over the facts of the case and that the FCA's records clearly showed an email and two reminders had been sent to the right email address.
He said: "On the basis of the records I consider that the FCA did take steps to tell you about, and remind you of, your reporting obligations, even though the records do not show whether the emails were delivered.
"That leaves the question of whether the FCA should, as a matter of policy, send information of this kind by email. I have explored this question with the FCA in relation to another complaint.
"They have told me that, whenever an email bounces back marked undeliverable, they follow it up with a letter. In general, this system seems to work well."
Mr Townsend said he also noted it was unlikely the initial email had not been received, since without this the firm would not have had confirmation it had been authorised.
Most of the complaints relating to late Gabriel have been rejected except for one instance where the firm had completed the return but forgot to click the submit button.
In that instance Mr Townsend said the firm had "done all the work required, by the date required" but had simply not submitted it, which led the FCA to waive the late fee.
In other instances a firm complained despite there being no record of it having attempted to log into Gabriel and in another the firm had not clicked submit, despite there being a recording of a phone call where an FCA representative told it to do so.
damian.fantato@ft.com
