The Commissioners have the power to join additional parties to
an appeal but there are restrictions on the extent to which a
joined party can be present at the hearing.
A person who has been joined as a party may apply to those
Commissioners by whom he has been joined for a transfer of
jurisdiction to the division of General Commissioners for his place
of residence or to the Special Commissioners. The Commissioners may
give consent if they are satisfied that it is convenient to the
parties to do so.
There is no specific power in the rules to make any decision
of the Commissioners generally binding on a joined party in respect
of proceedings other than those to which they have been joined (the
primary legislation which authorises these rules to be made does
not give authority for such a power). However, there are specific
provisions in other legislation which do achieve this, for example
in respect of some capital gains matters (see CG16401+) and capital
allowances (see CA320+). This joinder power is therefore of limited
general application and where you consider it might be appropriate
to ask the Commissioners to exercise it you should first make a
report to Central Policy: Tax Administration Policy.
See the DAG for how this applies to Statutory Payment
appeals.
