In HL Amah v HMRC (TC02805 – 2 August) an optician (HA) worked as a franchisee until 3 April 2009. He made a loss in his final period of trading part of which was carried back to his profit for the previous year. He subsequently began working as a freelance locum optician and claimed that the balance of his loss for 2008/09 should be set against his income from this source in 2010. HMRC rejected the claim on the basis that HA’s trade as a freelance locum optician was a different trade from his previous trade as a franchisee dispensing optician. HA’s accountant accepted HMRC’s rejection of the claim. HMRC issued a statutory demand for the tax due from 2010. HA then applied to lodge a late appeal against the rejection of his claim for loss relief. The FTT granted his application. Judge Radford found that HA...