Upper Tribunal: Tax and Chancery Chamber judgments, 2023

For the VAT exemption for non-profit organisations with philosophical, philanthropic or civic aims, an organisation may have more than one main aim. A…

In a corporate VAT-fraud case, HMRC may plead that an unidentified person acting for the company had actual knowledge that transactions were connected with…

Under the doctrine of precedent, the Upper Tribunal is bound by a Court of Appeal decision determining the same issues where the decision cannot be…

For repayment supplement purposes, a request for a full set of backing documents may reasonably include the underlying documents evidencing a land transfer…

A tribunal may assess for itself whether delay has made a fair hearing impossible. The parties’ agreement on that question is relevant but not conclusive. Long…

For customs classification, explanatory notes are important aids to construing the Combined Nomenclature and should be followed unless inconsistent with it.…

A determination confirming an accelerated payment notice may trigger the payment period even if the taxpayer alleges that HMRC failed to consider every…

When deciding whether to permit a late tax appeal, the tribunal should apply the three-stage Martland approach: assess the seriousness of the delay, identify…

Under Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008, Rule 10(3), a costs order may follow where a party brings proceedings which it should know cannot…

On an appeal from the First-tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal may intervene only for an error of principle or where the only reasonable conclusion on the facts…

Whether components constitute a single item of plant is a question of fact and degree. Function and purpose are relevant, but neither a single-purpose test nor…

A reply in an Upper Tribunal reference must identify every disputed matter in the respondent’s statement of case and give reasons for the dispute. A bare…

An advance pricing agreement under Taxation (International and Other Provisions) Act 2010 has statutory effect only for the chargeable periods to which it…

A VAT-group member cannot use Value Added Tax Act 1994, section 43B, to amend retrospectively the date on which it joined an existing VAT group. Section…

Where neither party contends that a contractual working-capital adjustment applies, a tribunal does not err by failing of its own motion to undertake an…

A default surcharge under section 59 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 may arise where a taxable person submits a VAT return on time but does not pay all VAT…

On an application to reinstate an appeal automatically struck out for breach of an unless order, the Martland assessment requires the tribunal to consider the…

An agreement settling a VAT appeal under Value Added Tax Act 1994, section 85, has the same consequences as a tribunal determination in accordance with its…

Where HMRC makes a discovery assessment under Taxes Management Act 1970 section 29(4), and relies on deliberate or careless conduct, discharge of that…

For private residence relief under Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, the unqualified expression “period of ownership” in section 223 refers to ownership…

An insurance transaction under the VAT exemption requires more than an uncertain event triggering a payment or service. The insured must obtain protection from…

The salaried-members provisions require their statutory conditions to be applied to the facts of the particular limited liability partnership. Condition B is…

Payments made under regulatory settlements are non-deductible where, viewed in substance and globally, they have the character of fines or penalties. This…

The EU-law principle preventing abuse of the VAT system is a free-standing principle. It does not depend on a conforming interpretation of domestic VAT…

For the substantial shareholding exemption, a group under paragraph 15A of Schedule 7AC to the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 must contain more than one…

Sections 441 and 442 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009 require a fact-sensitive enquiry into the main purposes for which a company is party to a loan…

A contribution notice may be issued where a person is party to a series of acts which materially reduces the likelihood of accrued pension benefits being…

The exceptional-circumstances exception to the statutory residence day count in paragraph 22(4) of Schedule 45 to the Finance Act 2013 is wholly objective. The…

Customs duty and import VAT remain payable where goods entered the United Kingdom after a special customs procedure had been discharged by a direct export from…

Input VAT on professional services used for an exempt share sale may be deductible where the sale is an objectively established fund-raising transaction for a…

Payments made under an arm’s-length commercial contract for the continued provision of goods or services are ordinarily consideration for those goods or…

For statutory market-value purposes, the hypothetical sale assumes that legal impediments to a sale are overcome, but it does not alter the identity or content…

For paragraph 7A of Part VIII of Schedule 3 to the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001, the qualifying amount must form part of relevant motoring…

For a deduction under Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, s 336(1), each statutory condition is cumulative. The requirement that an employee be…

A person is a treaty resident where, under the domestic law of a contracting state, the person is liable to full taxation there by reason of a listed criterion…

A reference to the Upper Tribunal is confined by the allegations, facts and circumstances put before the regulator and contained, or sufficiently foreshadowed…

Recklessness amounting to a lack of integrity requires both actual awareness of the relevant risk and an objectively unreasonable decision to take it. The…

Where a third party refers prejudicial reasons in a Decision Notice under section 393(9) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, that reference is a…

A party cannot reopen issues finally determined in the same proceedings by recasting them as a new statutory argument. Where a preliminary issue has been…

Whether interest is subject to withholding tax depends on the statutory purpose and practical substance of the arrangements, not merely their legal form. The…

Section 103 of the Finance Act 2020 retrospectively validates HMRC functions performed by automated processes. HMRC need prove that a notice or assessment was…

An appeal against a closure notice is confined by the conclusions and amendments stated in that notice, but the parties may rely on different legal reasons to…

An application to appeal out of time requires consideration of the seriousness of the delay, the reason for it, and all the circumstances. The applicant’s…

In a reference against regulatory sanctions, the Tribunal must determine the allegations, circumstances and evidence comprising the subject matter of the…

The First-tier and Upper Tribunals have judicial knowledge of the law of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They form a single UK-wide tribunal…

HMRC bears the burden of proving that an insufficiency of tax was brought about carelessly or deliberately before discovery assessments can rely on the…

Whether land forms part of the “grounds” of a dwelling for Finance Act 2003 purposes is an evaluative question. The tribunal must weigh all relevant facts and…

In a substantive tax appeal, the parties must identify the issues and evidence needed to meet alternative cases. A respondent’s statement of case is assessed…

Amounts reallocated to individual members under a deferred remuneration arrangement were not partnership profits under Income Tax (Trading and Other Income)…

A document submitted in the prescribed form as a stamp duty land tax return may operate as a protective return where the purchaser is uncertain whether a…

For a deliberate inaccuracy penalty under Finance Act 2007, Schedule 24, the taxpayer must knowingly provide HMRC with a document containing an error…

An application made in time to vary an unless order may, if granted, prevent an automatic strike-out from taking effect. An application made after the deadline…

For continuous services within Regulation 90, the time-of-supply rules must first determine when the supply occurred. Section 43(1) of the Value Added Tax Act…

A car remains available for the statutory car-benefit charge where a practical, legal or contractual restriction on its use is not an effective restraint in…

In a multi-factorial statutory classification exercise, appellate caution applies to challenges concerning weight, evaluation and matters of degree. It does…

For the purposes of Value Added Tax Act 1994, an error arising from unlawful VAT legislation may constitute an “error on the part of the Commissioners” where…