The taxpayer applied to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) to appeal out of time against assessments by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for 2003/04 to 2005/06 inclusive, and a closure notice for 2006/07, issued in June 2009 and August 2009 respectively.
A letter had been sent in August 2010 from the taxpayer’s then accountant, informing HMRC that “our above named client wishes to appeal against the assessments issued”. HMRC did not respond directly to the letter, which the FTT considered to be an application to appeal out of time. The FTT concluded that HMRC’s failure to accept or reject the application should be taken to be tacit acceptance of the late appeal. Thus, there was currently an open appeal.
The FTT went on to consider (if its decision was wrong) whether to override HMRC's refusal of later applications to appeal out of time, and to exercise its discretion to allow the appeal to proceed. Whilst
