Jurisdiction of the First-tier Tribunal

The taxpayer had made various tax payments in respect of his self assessment but HMRC failed to allocate them properly in some cases not acknowledging them. The outcome was that HMRC imposed late payment penalties on the taxpayer against which he appealed. However by the time the matter came to the First-tier Tribunal HMRC had withdrawn all of the penalties. The tribunal therefore wrote to the taxpayer saying that there was no longer any appealable decision for it to deal with.

The taxpayer rejected the tribunal’s assertion that there was nothing under appeal and asked it to hear his appeal. He requested compensation and costs stating that the tribunal had the power to award damages against HMRC where it had failed to act properly. Further the tribunal had in effect the same judicial review function as the High Court. He said he...