Meridian Defence & Security Ltd v Revenue & Customs [2014] UKFTT 300 (TC)

FTT-Tax
Meridian Defence & Security Ltd v Revenue & Customs
[2014] UKFTT 300 (TC) · 2014-03-25
[14]Under s 70 VATA HMRC (or on appeal) the Tribunal may “reduce the penalties to such amount (including nil) as they think proper.” 15. Section 85 VATA provides:(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where a person gives notice of appeal under section 83 and, before the appeal is determined by a tribunal, the Commissioners and the appellant come to an agreement (whether in writing or (otherwise) under the terms of which the decision under appeal is to be treated- (a) as upheld without variation, or (b) as varied in a particular manner or (c) as discharged or cancelled the like consequences shall ensure for all purposes as would have ensued it, at the time when the agreement was come to a tribunal had determined the appeal in accordance with the terms of the agreement (including any terms as to costs).(2) Subsection (1) above shall not apply where, within 30 days from the date when the agreement was come to, the Applicant gives notice in writing to the Commissioners that he desires to repudiate or resile for the agreement.(3) Where an agreement is not in writing – (a) the preceding provisions of this section shall not apply unless the fact that an agreement was come to, and the terms agreed, are confirmed by notice in writing given by the Commissioners to the Applicant or by the Applicant to the Commissioners, and (b) references on those provisions to the time when the agreement was come to shall be construed as references to the time of the giving of that notice of confirmation.(4) Where – (a) a person who has given a notice of appeal notifies the Commissioners, whether orally or in writing, that he desires not to proceed with the appeal; and (b) 30 days have elapsed since the giving of the notification without the Commissioners giving to the Applicant notice in writing indicating that they are unwilling that the appeal should be treated as withdrawn. the proceeding provisions of this sections hall have effect as if, at the date of the Applicant’s notification, the Applicant and the Commissioners had come to an agreement, orally or in writing, as the case may be, that the decision under appeal should be upheld without variation.(5) References in this section to an agreement being come to with an Applicant and the giving of notice or notification to us by an Applicant include references to an agreement being come to with, and the giving of notice or notification to or by, a person acting on behalf of the Applicant in relation to the appeal.” 16. The Tribunal may strike out the whole or part of proceedings under rule 8(3)(c) of the Rules if it considers that there is no reasonable prospect of the appellant’s case succeeding but may only do so if the appellant is given an opportunity to make representations in relation to the proposed striking out in accordance with rule 8(4) of the Rules. Discussion and Conclusion 17. As Meridian’s present appeal is on the same grounds as its appeals against the denial of input tax which, it is contended on behalf of Meridian, was withdrawn on commercial grounds, it is therefore necessary to consider whether it is entitled to raise the same arguments in relation to the penalties that it intended to run at the withdrawn appeal, namely that the figures stated on its 04/06 and 05/06 returns were correct and did not understate Meridian’s liability to VAT or overstate its entitlement to a VAT credit. 18. For HMRC, Ms Roche submits that misdeclaration penalties were imposed on Meridian in accordance with the legislation. Therefore, it is estopped from relying on the same grounds of appeal that it raised in its appeal against the denial of input tax and/or that to do so is an abuse of process and, as such, this appeal cannot succeed and should be struck out. 19. In Thoday v Thoday [1964] P 181 at 198 Diplock LJ (as he then was) said in relation to “issue estoppel”: “If in litigation upon one such cause of action any of such separate issues as to whether a particular condition has been fulfilled is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, either on evidence or on admission by a party to the litigation, neither party can, in subsequent litigation between one another upon any cause of action which depends upon the fulfilment of the identical condition, assert that the condition was fulfilled if the court has in the first litigation determined that it was not, or deny that it was fulfilled if the court in the first litigation determined that it was.” 20. The Special Commissioner (Charles Hellier) after citing the above passage from Thoday in Carter Lauren Construction v HMRC [2007] STC (SCD) 482 went on to consider the application of issue estoppel in tax cases. The case concerned the previous Construction Industry Scheme in which the question of whether a default was “minor and technical” arose. At [54] the Special Commissioner said:[54]“It cannot be in the public interest or in the interests of the finality of litigation that the exact same issue should be capable of being litigated afresh - with potentially different answers - in more than one appeal. If HMRC refuse a certificate on the grounds that default A is not minor and technical and the tribunal decides that it was minor and technical, it cannot be right that the next day HMRC should be able to revoke the certificate on the same ground, and in the subsequent litigation argue that that very default was not minor and technical. Neither can it be right that the taxpayer should be allowed almost countless bites at the same cherry. ” 21. As Lord Goff of Chieveley said at 506 of the decision of the House of Lords in Johnson v Gore Wood & Co [2001] 1 All ER 481 Lord Bingham reviewed the relevant authorities on abuse of process in “lucid detail”. Concluding his review of the authorities Lord Bingham said (at 498-499):
“It may very well be, as has been convincingly argued (Watt, "The Danger and Deceit of the Rule in Henderson v. Henderson : A new approach to successive civil actions arising from the same factual matter," 19 Civil Justice Quarterly , (July 2000), page 287), that what is now taken to be the rule in Henderson v. Henderson , has diverged from the ruling which Wigram V.-C. made, which was addressed to res judicata. But Henderson v. Henderson abuse of process, as now understood, although separate and distinct from cause of action estoppel and issue estoppel, has much in common with them. The underlying public interest is the same: that there should be finality in litigation and that a party should not be twice vexed in the same matter. This public interest is reinforced by the current emphasis on efficiency and economy in the conduct of litigation, in the interests of the parties and the public as a whole. The bringing of a claim or the raising of a defence in later proceedings may, without more, amount to abuse if the court is satisfied (the onus being on the party alleging abuse) that the claim or defence should have been raised in the earlier proceedings if it was to be raised at all. I would not accept that it is necessary, before abuse may be found, to identify any additional element such as a collateral attack on a previous decision or some dishonesty, but where those elements are present the later proceedings will be much more obviously abusive, and there will rarely be a finding of abuse unless the later proceeding involves what the court regards as unjust harassment of a party. It is, however, wrong to hold that because a matter could have been raised in early proceedings it should have been, so as to render the raising of it in later proceedings necessarily abusive. That is to adopt too dogmatic an approach to what should in my opinion be a broad, merits-based judgment which takes account of the public and private interests involved and also takes account of all the facts of the case, focusing attention on the crucial question whether, in all the circumstances, a party is misusing or abusing the process of the court by seeking to raise before it the issue which could have been raised before. As one cannot comprehensively list all possible forms of abuse, so one cannot formulate any hard and fast rule to determine whether, on given facts, abuse is to be found or not. Thus while I would accept that lack of funds would not ordinarily excuse a failure to raise in earlier proceedings an issue which could and should have been raised then, I would not regard it as necessarily irrelevant, particularly if it appears that the lack of funds has been caused by the party against whom it is sought to claim. While the result may often be the same, it is in my view preferable to ask whether in all the circumstances a party's conduct is an abuse than to ask whether the conduct is an abuse and then, if it is, to ask whether the abuse is excused or justified by special circumstances. Properly applied, and whatever the legitimacy of its descent, the rule has in my view a valuable part to play in protecting the interests of justice.” 22. It is clear from these decisions that there should be finality in litigation and that neither party, once an issue has been determined between them, should be able to challenge the outcome of that issue in subsequent proceedings or re-litigate that issue leading potentially to a different outcome. This raises the issue, in the present case, of whether the grounds of appeal relied upon by Meridian have been determined as a result of the application of s 85 VATA. 23. In our judgment the effect of the legislation in this case is that once Meridian had withdrawn its original appeal that appeal was deemed, by virtue of s 85(4) VATA, to have been settled by agreement. Accordingly, in accordance with s 85(1) the decision of HMRC that was under appeal is to be treated “as upheld without variation” for “all purposes” as if the Tribunal had determined the appeal. 24. Therefore, on 18 April 2011, as a result of withdrawing its appeal there was in effect a binding Tribunal determination that Meridian’s claims for input tax for 04/06 and 05/06 was incorrect as it was overstated and had no right to deduct input tax attributable to the transactions for which its recovery had been denied on the basis that it knew or should have known that these transaction were connected to fraud. This therefore disposes of the issue of whether the 04/06 and 05/06 returns are correct and, as such, Meridian is estopped from advancing the same arguments in the present appeal. In addition we find that it would be an abuse of process were it to be allowed to do so. 25. Section 63(1) VATA provides that where a return is made which understates a person’s liability to VAT or overstates his entitlement to a VAT credit, the person concerned shall be liable to a penalty equal to 15 per cent of the VAT which would have been lost if the inaccuracy had not been discovered provided it exceeds the threshold in s 63(2) VATA and there is no reasonable excuse or furnishing of information with regard to the inaccuracy when there was no reason to believe enquires were being made under s 63(10)(a) and (b) VATA respectively. 26. As no evidence was adduced by Meridian that it had a reasonable excuse or had furnished of information in regard to the inaccuracy, we find that the misdeclaration penalties were correctly imposed in accordance with the legislation. Given that that it is either estopped from advancing the arguments and grounds of appeal raised in its withdrawn appeal or alternatively that it would be an abuse of process if it was permitted to do so as the issues raised have been determined in accordance with s 85 VATA, we find that there is no reasonable prospect of Meridian’s appeal against the misdeclaration penalties succeeding. 27. Turning to the question of “fairness” which was raised by Meridian in its Notice of Appeal it must be remembered that this Tribunal, the Tax Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, was created by statute and unlike the High Court it does not have an inherent jurisdiction, rather its jurisdiction is defined and limited by legislation. This is clear from decisions of the higher courts and Tribunals whose decisions are binding on the Tribunal, eg in the decision of the Tax and Chancery Chamber of the Upper Tribunal in HMRC v Hok Ltd [2012] UKUT 363 (TC) in which the judges (Warren J and Judge Bishopp) said, at [56]: “… the First-tier Tribunal has only that jurisdiction which has been conferred on it by statute, and can go no further, …It is impossible to read the legislation in a way which extends its jurisdiction to include—whatever one chooses to call it—a power to override a statute or supervise HMRC’s conduct.”
As Judge Blewitt recently noted at [9] of Lambton Clothing Company Ltd v HMRC [2014] UKFTT 251 (TC) Hok “made [it] clear that this Tribunal has no jurisdiction to consider the issue of fairness where the penalty was charged in accordance with the legislation.” 28. We appreciate that rule 8(4) of the Rules provides that the Tribunal may not strike out proceedings under rule 8(2)(c) of the Rules without giving an appellant an opportunity to make representations in relation to HMRC’s application to strike out its appeal against the misdeclaration penalties. However, such an opportunity has been given by this hearing and therefore, as we have found that there is no reasonable prospect of Meridian’s appeal against the misdeclaration penalties succeeding, we strike out its appeal. Wasted Costs 29. Under rule 10 of the Rules the Tribunal may make an order requiring one party to pay the “wasted costs” of another. However, such an order may only be made after giving the paying party an opportunity to make representations. 30. On 5 August 2013 Ms Roche raised the issue of HMRC’s costs of the preparation for, and attendance at, that hearing which would be wasted should it be adjourned. Although we allowed the adjournment we were concerned that HMRC had incurred costs (eg attending the hearing and instructing counsel) which would be wasted as a result. We therefore directed that a schedule of these wasted costs be prepared and served on the Tribunal and the Company and directed that at the commencement of this re-listed hearing Meridian should be given an opportunity to make representations as to why the Tribunal should not make a wasted costs order. 31. HMRC complied with the direction on 3 September 2013 serving a schedule showing their costs of £2,232 in relation to the 5 August 2013 hearing. Having been given an opportunity to make submissions, which could have been made in writing and sent to the Tribunal despite the absence of any representation on behalf of Meridian at this hearing no submissions were made on behalf of Meridian we summarily assess HMRC’s costs of the 5 August 2013 hearing in the sum of £2,232 and direct that these are paid by Meridian within 28 days of the release of this decision. Right to apply for Permission to Appeal 32. This document contains full findings of fact and reasons for the decision. Any party dissatisfied with this decision has a right to apply for permission to appeal against it pursuant to Rule 39 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009. The application must be received by this Tribunal not later than 56 days after this decision is sent to that party. The parties are referred to “Guidance to accompany a Decision from the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber)” which accompanies and forms part of this decision notice. JOHN BROOKS TRIBUNAL JUDGE RELEASE DATE: 25 March 2014

Cited in 2 later judgments