BPP Holdings v HMRC

In BPP Holdings v HMRC [2016] EWCA Civ 121 (1 March 2016) the Court of Appeal found that a strict approach should prevail where HMRC fails to comply with an order from the FTT.

The FTT had debarred HMRC from further participation in the relevant proceedings for its serious and prolonged breach of an order requiring it to give proper particulars of its pleaded case against BPP. The UT had decided that HMRC should not be debarred.

The issue was therefore the proper approach of the tax tribunals in the case of breach of an order. It was established that:

·       HMRC had not complied with the order;

·       HMRC had not given any reason for its failure; and

·       a prejudice had been caused to the taxpayer as ‘litigation is not to be conducted by ambush’ and HMRC’s failure had caused significant delays.

The court observed that there...