TC09533 - [2025] UKFTT 00593 (TC)

This decision is concerned with whether the appellant’s appeal in respect of excise duties is entitled to proceed to a Tribunal hearing without first paying the assessed duty on the grounds that to do so would cause it hardship.

We were referred in the hearing to a hearing bundle.Mr Kearney, a director and shareholder in the appellant gave evidence in the hearing. A witness statement from Sarah Fereday, an officer of HMRC who considered the original hardship application, was included in the bundle but Ms Fereday did not attend the hearing. Mr Edwards for HMRC suggested she did not attend because her evidence was for practical purposes irrelevant to the Tribunal’s decision and we agree with that assessment, the relevant history being evident from the correspondence.

The burden of proof in this matter is on the appellant to show hardship.

We find the facts in this appeal as set out below.