Upper Tribunal: Tax and Chancery Chamber judgments, 2024

Eligibility conditions under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which require an employee to appear in an RTI return by the relevant CJRS day are standalone…

Permission to appeal from the First-tier Tribunal is granted only where an alleged error of law has a realistic prospect of success, or exceptionally there is…

An application to extend time for filing an appeal notice requires a structured three-stage assessment: the length and significance of the delay, the reasons…

Publication of a Financial Conduct Authority decision notice and entry of a reference on the Upper Tribunal register are governed by a strong statutory and…

Procedural fairness generally requires a party wishing to challenge material evidence to put the substance of that challenge to the witness in…

A genuine loan carrying a real obligation of repayment does not ordinarily constitute employment earnings in the amount of its principal. A connection between…

The open justice principle remains the starting point in applications for anonymity or privacy. Any derogation must be strictly necessary, supported by clear…

A tribunal may depart from the default of public hearings under Rule 32 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009 only on…

Where an earlier Upper Tribunal decision has resolved the same VAT consideration issue on materially similar facts, a later tribunal should apply that decision…

In a regulatory reference, relevant evidence is necessary but insufficient to justify directing a witness to give evidence. The Tribunal must consider whether…

Delay in issuing a tribunal decision does not, without more, establish an error of law. It may reduce the usual appellate deference to findings based on oral…

In a VAT MTIC appeal, the legal burden of proving actual or constructive knowledge remains on HMRC, although an evidential burden may arise for the taxpayer to…

Permission to appeal from the First-tier Tribunal requires an arguable material error of law. A finding of fact or evaluative judgment will amount to an error…

Group relief under Schedule 7 to the Finance Act 2003 is unavailable where a land transaction forms part of arrangements having tax avoidance as one of their…

On a disciplinary reference concerning a financial penalty, the Tribunal conducts a complete rehearing and may determine the appropriate penalty itself. It is…

In an appeal against a tax assessment, the taxpayer normally bears the burden of showing that the assessment is wrong. That burden is not reversed merely…

For VAT purposes, contractual payments by a local authority to an NHS foundation trust for specified health services may constitute consideration even where…

Cross-examination in judicial review proceedings remains exceptional. It may be permitted where oral evidence is necessary for the fair and just disposal of…

An exit tax on unrealised gains accrued during United Kingdom residence may be justified by fiscal territoriality. Its incompatibility with freedom of…

In judicial review, disclosure is exceptional and is ordered only where it is necessary for the fair and just resolution of the issue. The duty of candour is…

For stamp duty land tax purposes, whether a building is suitable for use as a dwelling is a multi-factorial question directed to the building’s fundamental…

For paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 6 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 to apply, the supply must be made on contractual terms which permit a reduced payment at an…

UK residence is determined by a multifactorial assessment of all relevant circumstances. A taxpayer who has previously had sole residence in the UK becomes…

An appellate tribunal may set aside a fact-finding decision on Edwards v Bairstow grounds only where, absent legal misdirection, no reasonable tribunal could…

For the purpose of calculating a corporate member’s share of partnership profits, a statutory fiction requiring the trade to be treated as carried on by a…

On a reference from a regulatory refusal of authorisation, the Tribunal must decide whether the regulator’s decision was reasonably open to it. It must not…

An appeal to the Upper Tribunal lies only on an arguable point of law, meaning an argument with a realistic prospect of success. Mere disagreement with the…

For IR35 purposes, the third stage of the Ready Mixed Concrete test requires an evaluative assessment anchored in the hypothetical contract. The tribunal must…

On a statutory reference concerning approval of a controlled-function candidate, the Upper Tribunal must dismiss the reference if the regulator’s decision was…

A judicial review claim remains live where a public authority withdraws its defence and promises to reconsider, but has not granted the substantive relief…

An umbrella company's contract is not an overarching contract of employment unless mutual obligations exist during gaps between assignments. A worker's…

An appeal from the First-tier Tribunal lies only on a point of law. Permission should be granted where the proposed grounds disclose a realistic prospect of…

In a non-disciplinary reference under Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Upper Tribunal must dismiss the reference if the regulator’s decision was…

On an application to bring a statutory tax appeal late, the tribunal must apply the Martland three-stage approach: assess the length of delay, identify its…

A tribunal may issue a witness summons only where there is a real likelihood that the witness will provide evidence materially assisting determination of an…

Permission to appeal against a refusal to admit a late appeal should be granted only where, after considering the length and reasons for delay, all the…

A finding of a deliberate inaccuracy requires proof that the particular taxpayer knowingly submitted an inaccurate return intending HMRC to rely on it. It is a…

For SDLT, whether land is residential depends on the nature of the chargeable interest acquired at completion. The analysis is directed to the land forming the…

Where a party has plainly succeeded overall, a costs tribunal must begin from that party’s success. In a complex tax case, success on approximately 90% of…

Withdrawal of a VAT appeal engages Value Added Taxes Act 1994, section 85(4), which deems the parties to have agreed that the decision under appeal is upheld.…

Where excise goods have been released for consumption, HMRC must assess the earliest person liable whom the evidence enables them to identify. The question is…

In construing a tax-loss provision, the court must apply the statutory language purposively to the transaction viewed realistically. A statutory formula for…

Where mutuality of obligation and sufficient control are present, the third stage of the Ready Mixed Concrete test requires a multifactorial assessment of…

In determining whether a transaction comprises one supply or several, the court must first identify the supplies by considering all the circumstances and the…

Publication of an FCA decision notice is presumed under Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. An applicant must provide cogent evidence that publication is…

For a tax-related penalty under paragraph 50 of Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2008, liability to the underlying paragraph 39 penalty arises when the taxpayer…

Article 12(5) of the UK-Ireland double tax convention is an anti-abuse provision. It is not confined to artificial arrangements, but it does not apply merely…

For the one-year limit in section 73(6)(b) of the VAT Act 1994, HMRC must have actual knowledge of the contents of evidence sufficient, in its opinion, to…

Applications for closure notices require a broad evaluative judgment. The tribunal must balance the taxpayer’s protection against prolonged enquiries with…

A beneficial interest in an asset may be disposed of for capital gains tax purposes through a declaration of trust, even where the asset’s legal title cannot…

Where unpaid excise goods have passed through a supply chain, HMRC must assess the earliest excise duty point which can be established. A person challenging an…

Record-keeping obligations imposed for supplies of investment gold must remain within the scope of the enabling provision. Where the relevant supply neither…

For the wholly and exclusively test, the court must identify the taxpayer’s objects in incurring the expense or liability. A tax-efficient method of achieving…

Payments routed through trusts may be employment income under Part 7A ITEPA even where they are not earnings under the ordinary employment-income rules. The…

A tribunal does not act unfairly merely because it adopts a formulation of a statutory test which neither party advanced, where that formulation was derived…

For the intermediaries legislation, the tribunal must first construct the contract that the worker and end client would have made directly, having regard to…

A classification regulation may be applied by analogy to sufficiently similar goods. The tribunal must identify which features in the regulation’s reasoning…

Value Added Tax Act 1994, Schedule 8, Group 1, Note 5 is an inclusive and enlarging definition of confectionery. It is not a deeming provision and does not…

Under the intermediaries legislation, the tribunal must first identify the actual contractual arrangements, then ascertain the hypothetical contract between…

Under the inward processing suspension system, a customs debt does not automatically arise for all goods covered by a bill of discharge merely because one…

A telematics device installed under a motor insurance arrangement may involve a taxable supply of installation services, but VAT liability requires more than a…

For the purposes of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, whether transactions comprise “arrangements” depends on the statutory context and the facts. The…

For the remittance rules, Income Tax Act 2007, section 809L must be construed purposively and realistically, but it is not thereby treated as an anti-avoidance…

A payment by a non-UK company is a dividend for section 402 of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 if, under the company’s local law, it is made…

The Upper Tribunal has jurisdiction to make a protective costs order in an appeal. The Corner House criteria are flexible guidelines, not statutory conditions…

For the purposes of the treaty tie-breaker based on a trust’s place of effective management, the inquiry concerns the trust’s trustees as a single and…

Under Rule 5(5) of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008, suspension of an immediately effective regulatory notice requires the Tribunal first to…

For the purposes of regulation 13 of the Excise Goods (Holding, Movement and Duty Point) Regulations 2010, physical possession is the starting point when…

For a standard method override to displace the turnover-based method of attributing residual input tax, the taxpayer must establish that its proposed use-based…

An overarching contract of employment requires mutuality of obligation throughout the whole contractual period, including gaps between assignments. The…

A taxpayer who returned foreign dividends as taxable but omitted a claim for double taxation relief cannot use error-or-mistake relief to cure that omission. A…

For a follower notice to be supported by a relevant judicial ruling under section 205(3)(b) of the Finance Act 2014, there must be no reasonable scope for…