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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Income support, JSA and tax credits  →  Thread

Late tax credit appeals should always have been allowed

Stuart
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New three judge Upper Tribunal decision finds tribunals could always extend appeal time limits for late tax credit appeals brought between November 2008 and April 2014 (legislation providing for the new First-tier Tribunal had mistakenly omitted to confer power on it to extend late appeals during this period in tax credit cases).

Upper Tribunal held that that the Tribunal Procedure Rules can extend time limits even when this is inconsistent with primary or other legislation.

Great result for Mike Spencer at CPAG.

http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/Aspx/view.aspx?id=4917

 

Stuart
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and CPAG’s news summary on the test case win -

http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/cpag-wins-test-case-tax-credit-appeals

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Thank goodness for that, what a load of misery has been heaped on so many poor claimants and what a load of extra work has been created for advisers trying to resolve cases affected by JI.

Good work Mike and Tom.

[ Edited: 27 Jul 2016 at 04:27 pm by Paul_Treloar_AgeUK ]
1964
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YAAAAAYYYY for our Mike! Seriously well done mate.

Ros White
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Yep, well done indeed Mike - another brilliant result -and also major thanks to Tom Royston from Garden Court North Chambers who represented the claimant pro bono.

Peter Turville
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so now just the small matter of HMRC refusing to admit late MRs ...............

Ros White
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Peter Turville - 27 July 2016 04:11 PM

so now just the small matter of HMRC refusing to admit late MRs ...............

Indeed. We are currently pursuing a test case on late MRs and are looking for cases where a late MR has been refused by either the DWP or HMRC. For the purposes of this case, we’re looking for claimants who live in London so if you have such a case, please do get in touch via the referral form on our test case page -

http://www.cpag.org.uk/test-case-referrals

Thanks very much

Stuart
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summary of case now available on rightsnet - lets hope we can add a sister case soon for late MRs…

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/welfare-rights/caselaw/item/Tribunal-rules-can-enable-extension-of-tax-credit-appeal-time-limits-set-by

1964
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I do hope so. Thanks to Mike, HMRC has (so far) backed down when threatened with JR proceedings on the cases he’s kindly taken on for us.

MMiah
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Hi All,

A fantastic result getting the late appeal issue resolved. 

Is there any guidance from the netters regarding out of time mandatory reconsiderations?

I assisted my client lodge an MR on the doorstep of the absolute deadline. Received this response…

“Your award notice told you that you have 30 days from the date of the notice to ask for a mandatory reconsideration in writing. You had until 5 August 2015 to do this, so the request is late. Although we can treat a late request for a mandatory reconsideration as made in time, we can only do this in special circumstances. We can only do this if the request is made within 13 months of the date of the decision. We do not accept your reasons are special circumstances so we can’t accept your request for a mandatory reconsideration and will take no action. There is no right of appeal to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service.”

The late grounds we lodged were ...I apologise for this late MR as I have been struggling to find free legal advice in this matter. I wish for this appeal to be admitted as it is within the 13 month deadline. I believe this application has reasonable grounds of success and it is therefore in the interest of justice to allow this appeal.”

1. Is there any advice/guidance? All I can think of is JR pre-action letter. 

2. Is there any guidance what “special circumstances” are? as the guidance on HMRC is mute on what amounts to special.  Link…https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-manual/tcm0014020

Thanks kindly in advance

MMiah

Daphne
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CPAG is looking for test cases where DWP/HMRC refuse a late MR request - see http://www.cpag.org.uk/test-case-referrals - so probably worth having a chat with them.

MMiah
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Thanks Daphne,

I have called and left a voicemail for a call back.  My client is from Birmingham so I hope they can help.

MMiah
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Hi All,

Does anyone know of any organisations in Birmingham that are able to take on public law matters on a legally aided basis? Basically to challenge decision of HMRC to allow late Mandatory Reconsiderations. 

Sadly the clock has been running and so the deadlines are looming.

HMRC entitlement decision refusing to allow late MR - dated 23/8/2016
HMRC overpayment decision refusing to allow late MR - dated 6/9/2016

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ Edited: 26 Oct 2016 at 02:24 pm by MMiah ]
Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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have you tried birmingham law centre?