In Clare Gore v HMRC [2014] UKFTT 904 (18 September 2014) the FTT held that it did not have jurisdiction to hear a claim based on legitimate expectation.
Ms Gore ran a business providing a children’s indoor playcentre. Her husband had been told by the VAT helpline that no VAT was due on the entrance fees. She therefore had stopped charging VAT on those.
As a result of an audit HMRC realised that VAT should have been accounted for and assessed accordingly. Ms Gore appealed on the ground that she had acted in reliance on advice given by HMRC. The issue was therefore whether the FTT has jurisdiction to consider a taxpayer’s claim based on the public law concept of legitimate expectation.
The FTT observed that the appellant’s arguments would remove much of the distinction between the jurisdiction of the tax tribunals and that of the administrative...