TC09631 - [2025] UKFTT 01072 (TC)

The form of the hearing was V (video). All attendees attended remotely on the Teams platform. The documents to which we were referred are a Hearing Bundle of 242 pages and a High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) Generic Bundle of 878 pages. At the end of the hearing we gave Directions for written submissions from HMRC on who was an “officer of the board” and what constitutes “notice” for the purposes of section 7 Taxes Management Act 1970 (TMA). We have considered HMRC’s further submissions dated 31 July 2025 (the Further Submissions) and the Appellant’s additional comments.

Prior notice of the hearing had been published on the gov.uk website, with information about how representatives of the media or members of the public could apply to join the hearing remotely in order to observe the proceedings. As such, the hearing was held in public.

This is Ms Zefi’s appeal against assessments to the HICBC and penalties imposed under schedule 41 Finance Act 2008 for failure to notify her liability to tax under section 7 TMA.

Ms Zefi had applied to postpone the hearing on 3 July 2025 on the grounds that she had to look after her mother who was ill. She did not provide any evidence. The application was refused, but Ms Zefi renewed the application, by email, on the day before the hearing explaining that her mother lived in a different country and providing a copy of her flight details for the following day (the day of the hearing).

HMRC objected to the postponement. The case had been postponed on a previous occasion without evidence. The initial application, on this occasion, had been made a week before the hearing, yet the Appellant had remained in the UK and was proposing to fly out on the day of the hearing. There were up to seven flights a day to the Appellant’s destination and she could have gone after the hearing (which was listed for the morning only) or the next day, given that she had already waited a week and had provided no details of her mother’s illness. HMRC’s officers who were witnesses had made themselves available and it would be unreasonable to postpone the hearing.

Having considered the Appellant’s application and HMRC’s objections, we considered that it was in the interests of justice to proceed with the hearing in accordance with Rule 33 of The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009.

In Ms Zefi’s response to the Further Submissions, she objected to the fact that we had proceeded with the hearing in her absence. We have set out above our reasons and the authority for doing so. If Ms Zefi wishes to pursue her objection she can do so as part of her appeal rights set out at the end of this decision.