Relevance of HMRC's conduct before lodging an appeal

In January 2012 HMRC ruled that Distinctive Care had an outstanding liability to stamp duty land tax as a result of a transaction that had taken place in 2008. The company appealed but while those proceedings were pending HMRC issued an information notice (FA 2008 Sch 36).

Distinctive Care took the view that HMRC did not have the power to issue an information notice relating to a liability on which it had already made a determination. In July 2015 it appealed against the information notice and two months later HMRC withdrew the notice after ‘the recent receipt of legal advice’. The First-tier Tribunal allowed the appeal.

Distinctive Care applied for an order for costs. But the appeal had been categorised as basic so HMRC could be ordered to pay costs only if it had acted unreasonably (Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules...