Where the appellant is unrepresented, you should ensure that he
is aware of the likely form of the Commissioners' hearing by
issuing to him the leaflet published by the Department for
Constitutional Affairs “Tax appeals: A guide to appealing
against decisions of the Inland Revenue on tax and other
matters”. It is important that the unrepresented appellant
knows what to expect at the commissioners’ hearing so that it
is more difficult for him to succeed thereafter on appeal from the
Commissioners' decision in a plea that he was taken by surprise,
did not know what was required of him or was not given the
opportunity to present his case (see
Cutmore v Leach 55TC602 and
Hawkins v Fuller 56 TC49).
If you intend to refer to case law at the hearing you should
provide the appellant with copies of the Reports. Similarly, if you
have prepared a bundle of documents especially for the hearing, a
copy of this should be provided to the appellant. It is not enough
to say that the appellant has all the documents but in a different
form.
