(1) Albert House Property Finance PCC Limited (In Liquidation) (2) Vale Property Finance PCC (In Liquidation) v The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) |
| Judge | Mr Justice Trower,Judge Guy Brannan |
| Published date | 04 January 2021 |
| Subject Matter | 4 January 2021 |
[2020] UKUT 0373 (TCC)
Appeal numbers:
UT/2020/0031& 32
UT/2020/0077 & 78
STAMP DUTY LAND TAX – withdrawal of appeals – HMRC informing
Tribunal of objection – no direct notification of taxpayer – whether valid
notice given by para 37 Sch 10 FA 2003– whether FTT erred in application
of para 42 Sch 10 FA 2003 and in failing to exercise discretion under Rule
5 to bring proceedings to an end – appeals dismissed
UPPER TRIBUNAL
(TAX AND CHANCERY CHAMBER)
(1) ALBERT HOUSE PROPERTY FINANCE PCC LIMITED
(IN LIQUIDATION)
(2) VALE PROPERTY FINANCE PCC
(IN LIQUIDATION)
Appellants
-and-
THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HER MAJESTY’S
REVENUE & CUSTOMS
Respondents
Sitting in public by way of remote video hearing treated as taking place in London on 18
November 2020
Julian Hickey, counsel, instructed by Cornerstone Tax Limited for the Appellant
Ben Elliott, counsel, instructed by the General Counsel and Solicitor for Her Majesty’s
Revenue & Customs, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2020
TRIBUNAL:
MR JUSTICE TROWER
JUDGE GUY BRANNAN
23
DECISION
Introduction
The question in these appeals is whether the Appellants can withdraw their appeals.
Somewhat paradoxically, the Appellants wish to withdraw their appeals but the
Respondents (“HMRC”) wish to prevent them from doing so.
The Appellants are two Guernsey companies, which are both in members’ voluntary
liquidation, and each appeals against two separate but related decisions of the First-tier
Tribunal (“FTT”) (Judge Redston). The two decisions in question were released on 3
December 2019 ([2019] UKFTT 0732 (TC)) and on 26 June 2020 ([2020] UKFTT 274
(TC)). We shall refer to those two decisions, respectively, as the First Decision and the
Second Decision. We shall refer to the first Appellant as “Albert House” and to the
second Appellant as “Vale Property” and collectively as “the Appellants”.
The First Decision concerned paragraph 37(4) of Schedule 10 to the Finance Act
2003 (“FA 2003”), which permits an appellant to withdraw a Stamp Duty Land Tax
(“SDLT”) appeal unless HMRC object within 30 days by giving the appellant notice in
writing. In short, HMRC gave notice of their objection to the FTT, which forwarded
the notice to the Appellants within the 30 day time limit. The FTT held that, even though
the notice had not been given directly to the Appellants, there was a valid notice of
objection and that, consequently, the Appellants had not withdrawn their SDLT
appeals.
The Second Decision concerned the Appellants’ applications to the FTT:
(1) to strike out the appeals under Rule 8(3)(c) of the First-tier Tribunal (Tax
Chamber) Rules (“the Rules”) on the grounds that the appeals had no
reasonable prospect of success;
(2) to strike out the appeals on the basis that it would be an abuse of process
if the appeals continued; and
(3) to exercise its discretion under Rule 5 of the Rules to bring proceedings
(i.e. the appeals) to an end.
The FTT, in the Second Decision, refused the Appellants’ three applications.
The Appellants now appeal to this Tribunal against the First and Second Decisions,
with the permission of the FTT.
We dismiss the appeals for the reasons given later in this decision.
The factual background
The facts found by the FTT (see [19]-[49] of the First Decision) were not in dispute
and we summarise the factual background below.
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