The Right Honourable Clifton Hugh Lancelot De Verdon Baron Wrottesley v The Commissioners for Majesty's Revenue and Customs
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 23 November 2015 |
| Neutral Citation | [2015] UKUT 0637 (TCC) |
| Appellant | determine the |
| Respondent | REVENUE & CUSTOMS |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) |
| Appeal Number | FTC/24/2015 |
[2015] UKUT 0637 (TCC)
Appeal number:FTC/24/2015
PROCEDURE – domicile - whether to hold a preliminary hearing to
determine the appellant’s domicile of origin - appeal against case
management decision - whether First-tier Tribunal applied correct
principles
UPPER TRIBUNAL
TAX AND CHANCERY CHAMBER
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CLIFTON HUGH LANCELOT
DE VERDON BARON WROTTESLEY Appellant
- and -
THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HER MAJESTY’S
REVENUE & CUSTOMS Respondents
TRIBUNAL:
JUDGE TIMOTHY HERRINGTON
JUDGE SARAH FALK
Sitting in public at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand London WC2 on 21
October 2015
Marika Lemos, instructed by New Quadrant Partners, for the Appellant
Akash Nawbatt and David Peter, instructed by the General Counsel and
Solicitor to HM Revenue and Customs, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2015
2
DECISION
1. This is an appeal against a case management decision of the First-tier Tribunal 5 (“FTT”) (Judge Brooks) released on 21 October 2014. The substantive proceedings
relate to an appeal against HMRC’s determination that the appellant was domiciled in
England and Wales during the years of assessment 2000-01 to 2007-08. By its
decision the FTT considered and refused the appellant’s application for his domicile
of origin to be determined as a preliminary issue in advance of the main hearing of the 10 appeal.
2. The sole issue in the substantive proceedings is the appellant’s domicile during the
tax years in question. Both parties agree that the appellant’s domicile of origin will
need to be determined in order to decide this question. In summary the appellant
claims that his domicile of origin is a discrete issue for which the limited relevant 15 evidence is already prepared, and that resolution of it would both facilitate preparation
for and the hearing of the rest of the case and could mean that the remainder of the
case would not need to be heard.
Factual and procedural background
3. The appellant was born in 1968 in the Republic of Ireland, shortly after his parents 20 had moved there from the UK and acquired an estate in County Galway. The
appellant’s father died unexpectedly in 1970, at which time the Irish and UK tax
authorities accepted that the father was domiciled in Ireland. The estate was
subsequently sold and the appellant left Ireland with his mother, initially to Spain but
in 1975 to the UK where the appellant was educated and served in the army until 25 1995. After leaving the army the appellant worked in or from the UK but also spent
increasing amounts of time in Switzerland where he developed an interest in winter
sports, eventually competing for the Irish bob skeleton team. In 2001 the appellant
married a Swiss citizen who also worked in the UK. The couple lived in London but
also had accommodation in Switzerland at the home of the appellant’s wife’s family, 30 and from around 2008 at a separate home made available by his father-in-law.
4. In April 2001 the appellant filed a claim with the Inland Revenue that he was not
domiciled in the UK as from around the year 2000. The claim was made under what
was then s 207 Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 and Schedule 1A to the
Taxes Management Act 1970. In providing details of the claim the appellant 35 maintained that his domicile of origin was Irish. An enquiry was opened into the
claim under paragraph 5 of Schedule 1A on 21 June 2001. Following protracted
correspondence and an application to issue a closure notice in respect of the enquiry,
on 18 April 2012 HMRC issued notices of determination of domicile to the effect that
the appellant was domiciled in England and Wales during the tax years 2000-01 to 40 2007-08 inclusive. Separate enquiries into the appellant’s tax returns for those years
remain open pending resolution of the domicile dispute.
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