In HMRC v G B Housley [2015] UKUT 71 (13 February 2015) the UT held that the FTT had no jurisdiction to hear appeals based on a process defect.
HMRC had refused to exercise its discretion in favour of the taxpayer and it had upheld its decision as part of the review process. The review decision had suffered from a process defect. The issue was the jurisdiction of the FTT.
The UT noted that the starting point must be that an assessment is valid unless and until it is shown that the taxpayer is entitled to have HMRC’s discretion exercised in his favour. This can be done by establishing a merits defect but not a process defect.
Here the process had been defective. Therefore HMRC should be allowed to reconsider the exercise of its discretion against which the taxpayer could appeal on the basis...
