Permission to make a late appeal

The taxpayer was the director of MDM. HMRC disallowed the company’s claims for input VAT credit and charged penalties for inaccuracies in its VAT returns. MDM became insolvent and did not pay the penalties so HMRC issued personal liability notices (PLNs) to the taxpayer. He applied for permission for a late appeal.

The First-tier Tribunal granted permission so HMRC appealed. It said the tribunal had made an error of law in failing to follow binding guidance  on compliance with statutory time limits. Further the tribunal had given too much weight to the taxpayer’s complaints about his taxpayer’s failings.

The Upper Tribunal accepted HMRC’s submission that the lower tribunal had erred in law in failing to acknowledge that ‘as a matter of principle the need for statutory time limits to be respected was a matter of particular importance to the exercise of its discretion’. 

The judges agreed with the First-tier...