A letter from HMRC rejecting an income tax repayment claim under the double tax treaty between the UK and Bangladesh did not indicate that a formal enquiry had been opened into the claim, and the appellant's appeal was therefore struck out. 

The appellant, a Bangladeshi national, studied in the UK from 2009 to 2017. During that time, he worked in a number of temporary part-time jobs, on which he paid tax under PAYE. He submitted a claim to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) under Article 19 of the UK-Bangladeshi double tax treaty (DTT) for repayment of the income tax he had paid through PAYE in his various jobs (the DTT treaty exemption applied for a maximum of five years).

HMRC initially refused the repayment claim in a letter dated 1 December 2016, on the basis that the appellant did not meet the conditions in Article 19 of the DTT to allow exemption from UK tax. The appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT). HMRC subsequently conducted