Readers' correspondence

Tribunal hearings

An HMRC spokesperson has provided the following comment on Kevin Slevin’s article ‘A bad day at the office? (Taxation 6 February 2020 page 8).

‘We are disappointed that Mr Slevin’s article “A bad day at the office?” appears to HMRC to question our conduct at a tribunal hearing and the actions of an HMRC officer. Mr Slevin acknowledges that he was not present at the hearing.

‘We consider that the article does not fairly describe the proceedings before the tribunal including suggestions that HMRC had not prepared for the proceedings properly and that HMRC’s approach was influenced by the fact that the case involved a litigant in person.

‘We are unable to comment in detail about the case as readers will know that our duty of confidentiality prevents this. Nevertheless we wish to...