For most tax matters there are statutory appeal procedures which
enables disputes between the taxpayer and HMRC to be settled, But
there are areas where this statutory machinery is not adequate.
Where no appeals statutory procedure exists an aggrieved taxpayer
may have recourse to judicial review to settle the matter.
A taxpayer may resort to Judicial review if s/he believes
that an officer of the Department is refusing to carry out or
delaying in carrying out his/her duties. An officer's actions or
decisions may be reviewed if it is claimed that s/he has
misinterpreted legislation, assumed powers to which s/he is not
entitled or failed to exercise properly a discretion which has been
given to him/her. An example is refusing to apply an Extra-
Statutory Concession in a particular case.
Judicial review may also arise where a taxpayer alleges that
an officer has not listened properly to representations and has
acted in a way which appears to be unfair or where there is no
appeal to the Commissioners in respect of a decision taken by HMRC
(see AH1951).
A taxpayer may also seek to take action against the
Commissioners by means of Judicial Review where there is no appeal
on a point of law by way of stated case (General Commissioners) or
direct appeal (Special Commissioners) in respect of their decision.
Examples are where the Commissioners have refused to admit an
application for a late appeal under TMA70/S49 or have refused to
review their previous determination as they could under Regulation
17 of The General Commissioners (Jurisdiction and Procedure)
Regulations SI 1994/1812 or Regulation 19 of The Special
Commissioners (Jurisdiction and Procedure) Regulations SI
1994/1811.
For more information see `The Judge Over Your Shoulder',
which deals with judicial review in some detail. This can be found
under “Guidance” in the Legal section of the Library on
the intranet.
