North Wiltshire District Council v Revenue and Customs: FTTTx 22 Sep 2010

VALUE ADDED TAX – Application by the Appellant for an extension of time to appeal against decisions by HMRC – Appeals lodged almost 14 and 21 months out of time – whether there is an obligation on the Tribunal on such applications to consider the criteria in CPR 3.9(1) pursuant to Sayers v Clarke Walker – held there is no such obligation – held the relevant criterion in accordance with which the Tribunal’s discretion to extend time should be exercised is that such exercise should apply the overriding objective of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009 to deal with cases fairly and justly (see: rule 2(2)) – in the exercise of the discretion applying the overriding objective, the Tribunal balanced, on the one hand, its assessment of the Appellant’s culpability in delaying appealing and the prejudice to HMRC in terms of the public interest in good administration and legal certainty, and, on the other hand, the loss and injury which would be suffered by the Appellant if an extension of time was refused – held that on conducting this balancing exercise in the exceptional circumstances of the case the loss and injury which would be suffered by the Appellant if an extension were refused outweighed the Appellant’s culpability and the prejudice to HMRC – time to appeal extended accordingly – allocation of the appeals to the Complex category – time for HMRC to send or deliver their statement of case extended

Citations:

[2010] UKFTT 449 (TC)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

VAT

Updated: 27 August 2022; Ref: scu.426587