In reinstating the taxpayer’s appeal after it was automatically struck out for the failure to comply with ‘unless directions’ the Upper Tribunal held that the First-tier Tribunal’s decision was perverse in failing to take account of relevant factors, and the First-tier Tribunal had misdirected itself in law by taking account of the burden of proof in deciding whether to reinstate. 

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued income tax assessments for 1996/97 to 2011/12, following an HMRC investigation into the respondent’s tax affairs in 2012. HMRC considered that the respondent was liable to tax on undeclared income and gains. The respondent contended that there was no UK tax liability because he was Irish domiciled and the relevant work giving rise to the disputed income had been undertaken outside the UK. 

In March 2022, the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) released a ‘reinstatement decision’. This decision