Human rights in point

The taxpayer was a barrister who moved from the cash basis of accounting to ‘true and fair’ version for tax purposes under FA 1998 s 42.

He overpaid tax for 2006/07 but HMRC rejected his claim for repayment on the ground it was out of time. The department then raised discovery assessments in relation to underpayments for 2005/06 and 2007/08. The taxpayer argued that his claim for repayment should be offset against the tax due on the assessments.

The First-tier Tribunal said it had no jurisdiction to review the Revenue’s refusal to exercise its discretion to allow a claim after the expiry of the time limit. The matter could be dealt with only through judicial review proceedings.

The taxpayer argued that the application of the time limits had led to him paying tax twice on the same profits which was against the Human Rights Act 1998....