Call to re-examine taxpayer costs in the Upper Tribunal

The Chartered Institute of Taxation has written to the president of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) setting out concerns about the costs regime of the process.

It wants further exploration of the recommendation by the Costs Review Group in its report of December 2011 that in non-complex cases a taxpayer who is successful before the First-tier Tribunal should be able to opt for the continuance of the no-costs regime in the Upper Tribunal.

The letter refers to the case of a taxpayer who had won a £600 penalty appeal in the First-tier Tribunal but which HMRC obtained permission to appeal. The department asserted it would be seeking its costs if it was successful ‘as per the normal practice in the Upper Tribunal’.

The judge gave permission but ‘expressed concerns that the risk of costs could dissuade the taxpayer from defending the case in the Upper...