In some appeals, mainly excise cases, the only option a Tribunal has is to tell HMRC that it believes the decision was wrong and that another Officer should review it. This is after a full hearing and in addition to the right to get HMRC to review a decision before the appeal has been lodged.

In 95% of the cases, the Officer reviewing the first HMRC will agree with the Tribunal and reverse the decision, but we have recently seen that approach change with more occasions where HMRC uphold the decision and the appeal process starts all over again. HMRC will receive strict instructions from the Judge as to what the new Officer can take into account, which is often very helpful to the taxpayer.

CTM has been successful in such a case where HMRC attempted to bring a second decision on the same issue without taking into account the Tribunal’s direction.