Ryan Houghton v The Commissioners for HMRC
| Judge | TRIBUNAL MEMBER MICHAEL BELL |
| Judgment Date | 16 May 2025 |
| Neutral Citation | [2025] UKFTT 545 (TC) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Court | First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) |
| Counsel | For |
| Date | 16 May 2025 |
Neutral Citation: [2025] UKFTT 00545 (TC) Case Number: TC09524
FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL
TAX CHAMBER
Taylor House, London
Appeal reference: TC/2022/13686
CIVIL EVASION PENALTY – seizure of tobacco – appellant liable to penalty – reduction of
penalty for disclosure and co-operation – reduction increased – appeal allowed in part
Heard on: 13 January 2025
Judgment date: 16 May 2025
Before
TRIBUNAL JUDGE JENNIFER LEE
TRIBUNAL MEMBER MICHAEL BELL
Between
RYAN HOUGHTON
Appellant
and
THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HIS
MAJESTY’S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS
Respondents
Representation:
For the Appellant:Mr Houghton, in person (did not attend)
For the Respondents: Ms Truelove, litigator of HM Revenue and Customs’ Solicitor’s
Office
DECISION
INTRODUCTION
Thisappeal is against a decision ofthe Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenueand
Custom (HMRC) to issue Mr Houghton (the Appellant) with a civil evasion penalty of
£11,252.00 (the Penalty), issued on 6 September 2022, pursuant to section 8(1) Finance
Act 1994 (FA 1994) and section 25(1) Finance Act 2003 (FA 2003).
The Penalty was issued in respect of tobacco seized from the Appellant on two occasions, as
follows:
The first seizure on 27 August 2021 – 34,000 L&B cigarettes, 3kgs of Golden Virginia
hand rolling tobacco (HRT) and 1.5kgs of Amber Leaf HRT were seized from the
Appellant at Manchester Airport by UK Border Force (UKBF) Officers.
The second seizure on 8 October 2021 – 5,800 Great & British cigarettes were seized
from the Appellant at Manchester Airport by UKBF Officers.
The Appellant resides in Dubai. He did not attend this hearing. We are satisfied that he is
aware of this hearing and that he has had notice of it for some time. We are satisfied
that it would be in the interests of justice for this hearing to proceed in his absence, for
the following reasons:
This hearing has been listed for some time. The notice of hearing is dated 2 September
2024. A copy of the notice of hearing was issued to both parties on or shortly
after that date.
The Appellant has been in email contact with the Tribunal and HMRC since at least
2023. On 18 September 2023, the Tribunal sent anemail to the Appellant
explaining that a party may only participate in a video hearing from abroad if the
authorities in the relevant country (e.g. Dubai) have given permission.
On 27 March 2024, the Tribunal (Tribunal Judge Vos) sent a letter to the Appellant,
explaining in detail the process for requesting permission to access the hearing
remotely. The letter sets out in detail the steps to be undertaken by the Appellant
if he wished to request permission from the authorities in Dubai to attend the
hearing remotely. The letter also explained that if the Appellant was not able or
willing to come to the UK for an attended hearing, and did not wish to seek
permission to participate in the hearing by video from Dubai, that an alternative
would be to ask the Tribunal to go ahead with the hearing in his absence on the
basis of written representations from the Appellant as to why his appeal should
succeed. The Appellant was told however that this alternative may be less
effective than if he were to appear at a hearing in person or to attend remotely.
The letter of 27 March 2024 gave the Appellant 14 days to decide how he wished to
proceed, with the options being to attend a hearingin the UK (with dates of
availability to be provided to the Tribunal), to seek permission from the
authorities to participate in the hearing by video, or to file written submissions
with the Tribunal proceeding with the hearing in hisabsence. In default of a
response within 14 days, the Tribunal would arrange a hearing date and it would
then be up to the Appellant as to whether he makes arrangements to attend the
hearing or to appoint someone to attend on his behalf.
1
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting