HMRC v Changtel Solutions UK

In HMRC v Changtel Solutions UK [2015] EWCA Civ 29 (28 January 2015) the Court of Appeal found that the Companies Court should have considered a winding-up petition even though a tax appeal was pending.

The issue was whether when there is both an appeal against a VAT assessment pending in the FTT and a winding-up petition pending in the Companies Court the FTT or the Companies Court is the appropriate forum to determine whether the appeal (against the debt represented by VAT assessments) has a real prospect of success.

HMRC contended that the company had purportedly entered into a small number of extraordinary high value export transactions each month to reduce its VAT liability.

When deciding whether the Companies Court should have deferred to the FTT the court observed that the presentation of a petition to wind up a trader which has...