In 2001 the Lord Chancellor’s Department (now the
Department for Constitutional Affairs) instituted a review and
reform of the procedural rules that apply to civil litigation in
county courts, the High Court and to the Court of Appeal. The
driving force behind this process was Lord Woolf and the reforms
are known as the Woolf reforms.
One of the major aims of the Woolf reforms is to speed up
litigation generally. There are no changes in the processes and
time limits for getting tax appeals to the High Court but the new
rules shorten many of the time limits in the procedures once an
appeal to the High Court has begun. The new rules also require that
certain tasks to be undertaken by the parties to the appeal now
have to be carried out sooner rather than later.
If HMRC decides to appeal against a decision of the
Commissioners we must now complete a detailed form (the
Appellant’s notice) and lodge it in the High Court. If the
appeal is against a decision of the Special Commissioners a copy of
their decision must be sent with the notice. The notice must
include the grounds of appeal and be accompanied by the bundle of
documents in support of the appeal. This must be done within 56days
of receiving the signed decision.
The skeleton argument in support of the appeal must be filed
with the Appellant’s notice or within 14 days of the filing
of that notice.
Where the taxpayer appeals to the High Court HMRC must now
complete another detailed form (a Respondent’s notice) within
14 days of the service on us of the Appellant’s notice. And
we must file our Respondent’s skeleton argument no later than
21 days after receiving the appellant’s skeleton argument.
This means that where we decide to appeal to the High Court
HMRC’s Solicitor has very little time in which to instruct
Counsel, settle the grounds of appeal, prepare bundles of
supporting documents and draft and lodge the skeleton argument.
Similarly, where the taxpayer decides to appeal to the High Court
the time limit for doing all this is very tight.
It is therefore essential that there is no delay at any
stage.
When you receive the decision you must
immediately telephone the relevant Head Office
specialist (see AH1865).
You must also advise the specialist immediately if you
receive a copy of the Appellant’s notice lodged in the High
Court by the taxpayer (see AH1860).
