Appeals from the Upper Tribunal

Responding to the Ministry of Justice consultation Reforms to arrangements for obtaining permission to the Court of Appeal, the CIOT has raised concerns with the proposals to streamline and, in some cases, limit an unsuccessful litigant’s ability to appeal an Upper Tribunal decision to the Court of Appeal. The CIOT notes that the ‘reasons of exceptional public interest’ test could be too narrow, leading to an imbalance between HMRC and taxpayers. Further, as there is no legal aid in tax appeals, taxpayers are more likely to have a weak case on appeal and therefore less likely to seek permission to appeal in the first place.

Although it is not clear how the proposed new test might operate in practice, it appears to be more stringent than the ‘general public importance’ test before the Supreme Court, and that seems wrong in principle, says the CIOT. If there is a general sense of unfairness about the way HMRC operates, even if there is not a ‘relevant’ public interest, then taxpayers should not be excluded from appealing.