The Supreme Court dismissed HMRC’s Appeal against a debarring order in the First-tier Tribunal. The FTT had, in making the debarring order against HMRC for various procedural breaches, referred to the guidance in Mitchell v News Group Newspapers Ltd, which it had held to be applicable by analogy to the Tribunals.
HMRC argued before the Supreme Court that the FTT’s reliance on Mitchell was unsound. In particular, CPR applies only to the Courts of England and Wales, whereas the Tribunal has its own rules, the jurisdiction of which extends to the whole of the United Kingdom. The Supreme Court held, however, that it would be unrealistic and undesirable for Tribunals to develop their own procedural jurisprudence on any topic without paying close regard to the approach of the courts to that topic.
Therefore while the imposition of a debarring order was a tough sanction, it was not unreasonable or unjustifiable. The FTT had also not come to its decision on unsound reasoning or any errors of law.
This article appears in the JHA July 2017 Tax Newsletter, which also features:
