Westminster Trading and another v HMRC

In Westminster Trading and another v HMRC [2014] UKFTT 985 (22 October 2014) the FTT decided to go ahead with a hearing without the representative of the appellant who could not attend due to ill health.

HMRC had denied claims for input tax refunds on the ground that the relevant transactions were connected with MTIC fraud.

The appellants had applied for an adjournment of the hearing arguing that their solicitors had ceased to act for them and that the case was too complex for them to represent themselves. The FTT had however rejected the application noting that Mr Kohli was a director of each of the appellant companies. He was therefore well placed to comment on the transactions at issue. Furthermore he had been with the appeals since their inception. The FTT did however agree to adjourn the hearing by five...