More than 10,000 tax appeals are being received each year by the First-tier Tax Tribunal, but the tribunal’s database does not have the facility to extract the outcome of appeals, according to a Commons written answer. As much as two thirds of the current case load is ‘stood over’ and several hundred appeals are believed to be connected with fraudulent evasion, according to the Judicial Communications Office.
The tribunal received 10,400 appeals in the financial year 2009/10 and 9,000 in the first three quarters of 2010/11, said Jonathan Djanogly, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice.
The First-tier Tax Chamber was created in April 2009. Tax appeals were previously heard by the VAT and Duties Tribunal, the Special Commissioners and the General Commissioners.
Tax Journal Cases Editor Alan Dolton said: ‘Fortunately, it appears likely that most of the appeals are still being settled by agreement without the need for a formal decision. Nevertheless, the Tax Chamber issued 594 decisions during 2010, and has issued a further 247 decisions so far this year (as at 9 May). It is clearly becoming increasingly difficult for practitioners to keep up to date with new decisions, and to identify cases where the Tribunal disagrees with HMRC's interpretation of the law.’
Summary decisions
A spokesperson for the Judicial Communications Office said these figures appeared to relate only to ‘full decisions’ that are posted on the tribunals website. They do not include the ‘summary decisions’ which account for ‘the vast majority of decisions (approx 90%) of the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber)’.
‘Summary decisions are not posted on the website, as they contain little detail and are of no general interest,’ she said.
The spokesperson added: ‘As much as two thirds of our entire case load is “stood over”, that is held in abeyance (almost invariably at the request of the parties) while another appeal, or set of appeals, (a “lead case”) raising the same or a similar issue is determined, sometimes in this Chamber, sometimes in the Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court or the European Court. This is done to avoid litigating the same point over and again.
‘There are also several hundred cases of what are colloquially known as MTIC appeals. These are appeals against HMRC’s refusal to refund tax, or less commonly against assessments to recover tax, which HMRC say is connected with fraudulent evasion.
‘The amounts involved are usually millions of pounds, there are vast amounts of documentary evidence and usually a dozen or more witnesses. The cases take the parties a long time to prepare. The hearings rarely take less than two weeks, and often last considerably longer.’
An analysis of decisions reached in 2010 that were summarised in Tolley’s Tax Cases (dealing with direct taxes only) indicated that of 282 cases, 216 were decided in favour of HMRC and 44 for the taxpayer. The other 22 cases comprised those in which HMRC were not a party and neutral as to the outcome and those which were not wholly or substantially in favour of either party.
Tolley’s VAT Cases reported that of the 245 VAT appeals decided in 2010 and summarised in the book, 177 were decided in favour of HMRC and 47 for the taxpayer.
The VAT and Duties Tribunal received 5,400 appeals in 2008/09, and the Special Commissioners received 420. The number of appeals received by the General Commissioners in that year was not available but it was estimated that 9,500 cases were heard before the General Commissioners in 2006/07, Djanogly said.
More than 10,000 tax appeals are being received each year by the First-tier Tax Tribunal, but the tribunal’s database does not have the facility to extract the outcome of appeals, according to a Commons written answer. As much as two thirds of the current case load is ‘stood over’ and several hundred appeals are believed to be connected with fraudulent evasion, according to the Judicial Communications Office.
The tribunal received 10,400 appeals in the financial year 2009/10 and 9,000 in the first three quarters of 2010/11, said Jonathan Djanogly, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice.
The First-tier Tax Chamber was created in April 2009. Tax appeals were previously heard by the VAT and Duties Tribunal, the Special Commissioners and the General Commissioners.
Tax Journal Cases Editor Alan Dolton said: ‘Fortunately, it appears likely that most of the appeals are still being settled by agreement without the need for a formal decision. Nevertheless, the Tax Chamber issued 594 decisions during 2010, and has issued a further 247 decisions so far this year (as at 9 May). It is clearly becoming increasingly difficult for practitioners to keep up to date with new decisions, and to identify cases where the Tribunal disagrees with HMRC's interpretation of the law.’
Summary decisions
A spokesperson for the Judicial Communications Office said these figures appeared to relate only to ‘full decisions’ that are posted on the tribunals website. They do not include the ‘summary decisions’ which account for ‘the vast majority of decisions (approx 90%) of the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber)’.
‘Summary decisions are not posted on the website, as they contain little detail and are of no general interest,’ she said.
The spokesperson added: ‘As much as two thirds of our entire case load is “stood over”, that is held in abeyance (almost invariably at the request of the parties) while another appeal, or set of appeals, (a “lead case”) raising the same or a similar issue is determined, sometimes in this Chamber, sometimes in the Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court or the European Court. This is done to avoid litigating the same point over and again.
‘There are also several hundred cases of what are colloquially known as MTIC appeals. These are appeals against HMRC’s refusal to refund tax, or less commonly against assessments to recover tax, which HMRC say is connected with fraudulent evasion.
‘The amounts involved are usually millions of pounds, there are vast amounts of documentary evidence and usually a dozen or more witnesses. The cases take the parties a long time to prepare. The hearings rarely take less than two weeks, and often last considerably longer.’
An analysis of decisions reached in 2010 that were summarised in Tolley’s Tax Cases (dealing with direct taxes only) indicated that of 282 cases, 216 were decided in favour of HMRC and 44 for the taxpayer. The other 22 cases comprised those in which HMRC were not a party and neutral as to the outcome and those which were not wholly or substantially in favour of either party.
Tolley’s VAT Cases reported that of the 245 VAT appeals decided in 2010 and summarised in the book, 177 were decided in favour of HMRC and 47 for the taxpayer.
The VAT and Duties Tribunal received 5,400 appeals in 2008/09, and the Special Commissioners received 420. The number of appeals received by the General Commissioners in that year was not available but it was estimated that 9,500 cases were heard before the General Commissioners in 2006/07, Djanogly said.
