Appeals, disputes and investigations
Late appeal not admitted
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) refused to admit a late appeal, as the taxpayer was attempting to appeal its own error rather than that of HMRC.
HMRC issued a closure notice to a company that it believed had not included a house sale in its tax return. The company had 30 days to appeal, but filed an appeal almost four years late, on the grounds that the house was owned by an individual rather than a company, and that private residence relief then brought the tax bill to zero. The trigger was new agents acting for the company identifying the error.
The application to bring a late appeal was refused. Appeals must be against amendments to a tax return resulting from an HMRC decision. What the taxpayer was attempting to appeal here was its own possible error as to ownership. The late appeal was therefore not admitted.
Kinross Estate Company v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1146 (TC)
From Tax Update October 2025, published by S&W Partners LLP
FTT orders HMRC to disclose documents
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) found that HMRC should provide most of the requested documents to the taxpayers, but not internal HMRC documents.
This procedural hearing related to eleven separate appeals. Each closure notice was for capital gains tax (CGT) planning arrangements using offshore trusts. Together they covered 1999 to 2003.
The taxpayers sought disclosure from HMRC of various documents and forms, including their full tax returns and correspondence between HMRC, the taxpayers, their representatives and trustees, and some internal HMRC documents. Their position was that they needed these to establish the facts their claims were based on, check for estoppel, and understand HMRC’s historical position.
HMRC’s case was that for some documents it had already made all reasonable efforts to locate and disclose them, that the correspondence sought was too broadly defined, and that some of its internal documents were confidential state-to-state communications. It had already disclosed 417 documents.
The FTT noted that the tax at state was £15m, and that the taxpayers had lost some of their early correspondence. It found that HMRC should disclose the documents in the most part, as it was responsible for them and should either produce them or state how they were lost. For one category, no disclosure was ordered: the internal HMRC documents. It was not clear that they would be relevant to the case, and HMRC’s concerns about publishing its communications with other states about tax treaty negotiations were legitimate.
Evans & Ors v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1112 (TC)
From Tax Update October 2025, published by S&W Partners LLP
Practical Points
Every month, the Tax Faculty publishes short, practical pieces of guidance to help agents and practitioners in their day-to-day work.
