The Claimant sought Judicial Review of four closure notices rejecting the Claimant’s claim for capital losses, advanced in relation to the four tax years.
The Claimant asserted a legitimate expectation to claim those capital losses, in reliance on guidance published by the Commissioners in 2003. The Claimant contends that his legitimate expectation cannot and should not be frustrated by the Commissioners’ withdrawal of the 2003 guidance by means of a Revenue and Customs Brief issued in 2009 and by the Closure Notices which relied on RCB 30/09, because to do so would be so conspicuously unfair as to amount to an abuse of the Commissioners’ powers.
The Commissioners respond that there is no conspicuous unfairness in this case and that there is an overriding public interest in collecting the correct amount of tax. They resist this challenge.’
Held: The request was granted: ‘ Once a legitimate expectation on the part of the taxpayer had been established, the Commissioners were obliged to balance all aspects of unfairness to determine whether, overall, there would be conspicuous unfairness in collecting the tax due. In this case, the Claimant was complaining of unfairness which went far beyond detrimental reliance (although his complaint included that feature). The Commissioners did not consider those other aspects of unfairness. The Closure Notices which were the product of the balancing exercise must for that reason be quashed.’
Judges:
Whipple J
Citations:
[2015] EWHC 3261 (Admin)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Taxes Management
Updated: 04 December 2022; Ref: scu.554572
