Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Late appeals and discovery assessments: UK FTT (Tax) applies Martland in Stenhouse and Abbey Healthcare, scrutinising HMRC’s carelessness and deliberate behaviour findings, delays and separation from information notice penalties

Published on: 15 July 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Tax expert

Legal News

Article summary

Stenhouse and another v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 820 (TC) and Abbey Healthcare v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 822 (TC)

In Stenhouse, HMRC issued discovery assessments under section 29 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 totalling £450,000, relying on the extended six‑year window for careless conduct. Further penalties were imposed for several Schedule 36 Finance Act 2008 information notices that had not been observed, with non‑compliance forming the basis for those penalties. HMRC ultimately rejected out‑of‑time appeals against the assessments and the penalties, pointing to delays ranging from 68 to 33 months as excessive. The appellants asked the FTT to allow a late appeal. They contended they could not appeal until they had obtained RBS bank statements, as without them they were unable to challenge HMRC’s calculations. Securing those statements proved difficult, partly because of COVID‑19‑related delays and associated backlogs. In addition, their daughter’s hospitalisation meant correspondence received around that period did not receive proper attention and was not prioritised. The FTT applied the three‑stage approach drawn from Martland v HMRC [2018] UKUT 178 (TCC). This...

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