01 August 2025

(1) Medpro Healthcare Ltd (2) Kalvinder Ruppai v HMRC [2025] UKUT 255 (TCC)

In a split decision, the Upper Tribunal (Mr Justice Marcus Smith with Judge Jonathan Cannan dissenting) held that part of the decision in Martland v HMRC [2018] UKUT 178 (TCC), which laid down widely applied principles on when a taxpayer may bring a late appeal, was ‘clearly wrong’. The Upper Tribunal reasoned that in giving additional weight to the need (a) for litigation to be conducted efficiently and at proportionate cost and (b) to enforce compliance with rules, practice directions and orders, the Upper Tribunal in Martland had placed a fetter on the discretion of the First-Tier Tribunal which was not justified by the words of section 83G(6) Value Added Tax Act 1994.

As a consequence, the Upper Tribunal held that four other Upper Tribunal decisions that followed Martland (HMRC v Katib [2018] UKUT 178 (TCC), Uddin v HMRC [2023] UKUT 99 (TCC), HMRC v Websons (8) Ltd, [2020] UKUT 154 (TCC) and HMRC v BMW Shipping Agents Ltd [2021] UKUT 91) also misstated the law. The decision significantly changes the principles relevant to making late appeals to the First-Tier Tribunal outside the applicable statutory time limit.

You can find a copy of the judgment here.

Quinlan Windle and Sam Glover acted for the taxpayers.