TC09672 - [2025] UKFTT 01262 (TC)

This is an application by HMRC to strike out part of the Appellant’s appeal under Rule 8(3)(c) of the Tribunal Rules;

“The Tribunal may strike out the whole or a part of the proceedings if…

(c|) the Tribunal considers there is no reasonable prospect of the appellant’s case, or part of it, succeeding.”

The Upper Tribunal in HMRC v Fairford Group plc (in liquidation) & Ors [2014] UKUT 0329 (TCC) provided guidance for the Tribunal as to how to apply this test at [41]:

“In our judgment an application to strike out in the FTT under Rule 8(3)(c) should be considered in a similar way to an application under CPR 3.4 in civil proceedings (whilst recognising that there is no equivalent jurisdiction in the First-tier Tribunal Rules to summary judgment under Part 24). The Tribunal must consider whether there is a realistic, as opposed to a fanciful (in the sense of it being entirely without substance) prospect of succeeding on the issue at a full hearing, see Swain v Hillman [2001] 2 All ER 91 and Three Rivers (see above) Lord Hope at [95]. A ‘realistic’ prospect of success is one that carries some degree of conviction and not one that is merely arguable, see ED & F Man Liquid Products v Patel [2003] EWCA Civ 472.  The tribunal must avoid conducting a 'mini-trial'. As Lord Hope observed in Three Rivers, the strike-out procedure is to deal with cases that are not fit for a full hearing at all.”

I accept this is the correct approach to apply in this application.