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| 25.1 |
Several kinds of revenue proceedings are heard in the Chancery Division. Usually the parties are HM Revenue and Customs on one side and a taxpayer on the other. The main examples are described below. Almost all of them are appeals against decisions made by lower level tribunals at first instance. The appeals are governed by Part 52. Reference should be made to Chapter 10 for the general procedure relating to such appeals.
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| 25.2 |
The General Commissioners are a first instance appeal tribunal for cases concerning these three taxes. Appeals from their decisions, whether by the Revenue or by a taxpayer, are conducted on the basis of a case stated, drawn up by the General Commissioners, which sets out the facts, the arguments, and the General Commissioners' decision. The case stated is usually backed up by whatever documents were before the Commissioners. These appeals are limited to questions of law. The judge never hears evidence, and the appeal will almost certainly fail if the appellant's real complaint is that the General Commissioners got the facts wrong. The judge does have power to remit a case to the General Commissioners for them to hear further evidence and find further facts, but this is only rarely done.
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| 25.3 |
The rules provide that, when the party who is appealing from the General Commissioners receives the case stated in its final form from the General Commissioners' clerk, the party has to transmit it to the High Court within 30 days. The court has no power to extend this time limit, which must be strictly observed if the court is to be able to hear the appeal: New World Medical Ltd v Cormack [2002] EWHC 1245 (Ch), [2002] STC 1245.
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| 25.4 |
The Special Commissioners are the other first instance appeal tribunal for tax purposes, and hear cases relating to all four taxes mentioned above, known as the direct taxes. Appeals from their decisions, whether by the Revenue or by a taxpayer, are conducted, not on the basis of a case stated, but on the basis of the Special Commissioners' decision and the papers which they had before them. Those papers may include a transcript of the evidence or the Special Commissioners' notes of the evidence, but, as with appeals from General Commissioners, appeals to the Chancery Division are limited to questions of law. The judge never hears evidence. Again as with the General Commissioners, the judge has power to remit a case to the Special Commissioners for them to hear further evidence and find further facts, but this is only rarely done. There are time limits for filing an Appellant's Notice for an appeal from a decision of the Special Commissioners. In most cases the limit is 56 days from the date of the Commissioners' decision, but in some cases it is shorter. For details reference should be made to paragraph 23.5 of PD 52.
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| 25.5 |
Exceptionally, appeals from the Special Commissioners in relation to the direct taxes may go directly to the Court of Appeal, so leapfrogging the Chancery Division.
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| 25.6 |
Some inheritance tax appeals are exceptions to the normal procedure and do not start before the Special Commissioners, so that the Chancery Division is the court of first instance. These are limited to cases where the issues to be decided are wholly or mainly issues of law and there is no substantial dispute about the facts. Detailed procedural rules about appeals of this nature are to be found in paragraph 23.3 of PD 52.
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| 25.7 |
These are heard in the Chancery Division, and are conducted on the basis of a case stated drawn up by HM Revenue and Customs. Usually there is no oral evidence, but it has occasionally been heard.
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| 25.8 |
Appeals relating to stamp duty reserve tax are also heard in the Chancery Division. Rules relating to such appeals have been made, but no such appeal has yet arisen.
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| 25.9 |
Most of these appeals relate to VAT, but occasionally appeals on other duties, such as excise duty, arise. An appeal may be brought either by HM Revenue and Customs or by the taxpayer. As with appeals from the Special Commissioners relating to the direct taxes, exceptionally leapfrog appeals may lie direct to the Court of Appeal, but normally the appeal will be to the Chancery Division.
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| 25.10 |
As with appeals from the Special Commissioners, VAT appeals are based on the Tribunal's decision and the documents in the case. The judge never hears evidence. The documents usually include a transcript of the evidence before the Tribunal or the Tribunal's notes of the evidence. Nevertheless, like appeals from the Special Commissioners concerning the direct taxes, an appeal lies only on a point of law. Usually the time limit for filing the appellant's notice is 56 days from the decision of the Tribunal.
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