Judicial Review

Recent years have seen more and more powers being conferred on HMRC without a right of appeal for taxpayers to the Tax Tribunals.  This has meant the only recourse for taxpayers is to judicial review which now forms an increasing part of Chambers’ workload.   This is an area where prompt specialist advice is essential as HMRC and the Courts insist that judicial review challenges are made "promptly".  Members of Temple Tax have led the way in challenges to Accelerated Payment Notices, Follower Notices, Conduct Notices given to Promoters of Tax Avoidance Schemes and have been involved in several of the recent cases in this area.  Members also advise on more traditional judicial claims involving reliance on HMRC’s Statements of Practice and manuals, claims founded on legitimate expectations and cases where HMRC has fettered its discretionary or acted unreasonably in the public law sense.