UT (Tax & Chancery) UT/2023/000103 - [2025] UKUT 00102 (TCC)

HMRC assessed MLT to scheme sanction charges in relation to the Pension Funding Deals entered into by each of the Employers, and MLT applied for its liability to be discharged. Before the FTT, MLT argued that the time limit for making a discharge application ran from the end of the year in which HMRC issued the assessment, but the FTT agreed with HMRC that the time limit ran from the end of accounting period in which the liability to the charge arose. Ground 5 reads:

“The Tribunal erred in law in concluding that the time limit for making an application under s268 FA 2004 was six years from the end of the year of assessment in which the transaction took place, as opposed to from the end of the year of assessment in which the assessment was made.”

We first set out the relevant law and then consider the parties’ submissions.