Summary
A tribunal hearing to consider an application by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) (under FA 2008, Sch 36, para 3) for the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) to approve the issue of a third-party information notice must be heard ‘ex-parte’.
Background
A bankruptcy order was made against an individual (Mr H). A trustee in bankruptcy was appointed. HMRC wrote to the trustee stating that the FTT would be approached (under Sch 36, para 3) for permission to issue the trustee with a third-party information notice ‘in relation to all documents you hold in relation to [Mr H’s] financial affairs’.
HMRC subsequently made a written application for a FTT hearing, which would be held in private. However, the Bankruptcy Court directed that the trustee could not provide any documents to HMRC unless HMRC had first paid the trustee’s costs of
