Refusal to grant permission to make a late appeal

The taxpayer had applied to the First-tier Tribunal for permission to make late appeals against HMRC’s decisions to issue assessment and closure notices as well as penalties but it refused. So he proceeded to the Upper Tribunal.

The Upper Tribunal said it was reasonable for the First-tier Tribunal to have followed the three-stage approach in Denton v TH White [2015] 1 All ER 880 on late appeals. The Upper Tribunal had later endorsed this in Martland v CRC [2018] UKUT 178 (TCC).

On the taxpayer’s claim that the lower tribunal had not given due weight to his depression the judge noted it had accepted this as a reason for the delay but had made no error of law in discounting weight to be given to it. This was on the basis of the lack of express medical evidence on the effect of the condition. So although the mental illness...