N Brown Group and JD Williams and Company v HMRC

In N Brown Group and JD Williams and Company v HMRC [2016] UKFTT 445 (23 June 2016) the FTT refused both an application to withdraw a request to opt out from the costs shifting regime and an application to induce a ‘without prejudice’ letter as evidence.

This was a case management hearing. The case had been categorised as complex but the appellants had opted out of the cost shifting regime. The appellants had then applied to withdraw their request to be excluded from potential liability to costs and HMRC had opposed the appellants’ application. The FTT observed that the ability to opt out of the costs shifting regime under the FTT Rules 2009 rule 10(1)(c)(ii) was a one-off event available for a limited time only. This achieved certainty for both parties and prevented a taxpayer from obtaining an unfair advantage in relation to...