Application for costs

The taxpayer applied for a direction that HMRC disclose the names of those involved in the making and confirmation of a decision to revoke the business’s gross payment status (FA 2004 s 66(3)). HMRC made the revocation on the basis it had reasonable grounds to suspect the taxpayer had been false fraudulent or knowingly non-compliant. The taxpayer sought a review but that confirmed the revocation.

It appealed to the First-tier Tribunal but the HMRC officers involved in the litigation wrote to the taxpayer to say it did not intend to contest the appeal. So the appeal was formally allowed and gross payment status restored.

The taxpayer then applied for an order that HMRC pay its costs. It said HMRC unreasonably resisted its ‘meretricious appeal by failing to identify or take into account that HMRC’s withdrawal under s 66(3) had no evidential basis or was done unreasonably without...