R (oao Totel Ltd) v First-tier Tribunal

In R (oao Totel Ltd) v First-tier Tribunal (and related application) (QB – 24 March) a company appealed against two assessments to recover input tax and applied under VATA 1984 s 84(3B) for the appeals to be entertained without paying or depositing the tax. The First-tier Tribunal rejected the applications finding that T had not submitted sufficient evidence to show that payment of the tax would cause hardship. T applied for judicial review. The QB dismissed the application holding that the Tribunal’s decision had not been unreasonable. Simon J observed that T’s accountants had asserted that they ‘had been “too busy” to prepare relevant and up-to-date material’. He also held that ‘the abolition of a right of appeal to the Upper Tribunal against the Tribunal’s refusal to give a hardship direction was lawful’ and that the provisions of VATA 1994 s 84(3B) (3C) did...