The upper tribunal has dismissed an appeal made by an accounting firm for costs against HMRC after it was fined for “dishonest conduct”.
Marshall & Co, a chartered accountancy practice, appealed against fines by the Revenue of about £13,000 for “dishonest conduct” about VAT.
In 2014 Marshall & Co, whose proprietor is Mrs Marshall, made an application to the first tier tribunal for costs.
The tribunal refused that application. The firm appealed to the upper tribunal, arguing, for example, that the lower tribunal had erred in law in “failing to review in depth the background to the proceedings” and that the tribunal was mistaken in finding that HMRC did not act unreasonably after the appeal proceedings began.
The upper tribunal [Marshall & Co v HMRC, UT/2015/0043] dismissed the firm’s appeal concluding that the first tier tribunal judge “was entitled, on the evidence, to make the findings that he did and to conclude from those findings that HMRC did not act unreasonably after the proceedings had begun.”