Rotberg, the FTT and legitimate expectation

There has been a great deal of debate in recent years regarding the extent to which the First-tier Tribunal has jurisdiction to determine tax appeals on the basis of public law points particularly legitimate expectation arguments. This has been considered most recently in Karen Rotberg v HMRC [2014] UKFTT 657 (TC).

By way of background TMA 1970 s 50(6) sets out the tribunal’s statutory jurisdiction in relation to an appeal against an assessment to income tax or capital gains tax. It provides that if on an appeal notified to the tribunal the tribunal decides that amongst other things the appellant is overcharged by an assessment the assessment shall be reduced...