ARTG8260 | First-tier and Upper Tribunals: Appeals to the tribunal: Customer appeals with a hardship application (indirect taxes)

If the customer makes a hardship application when appealing to the first-tier tribunal, the Clearing House will send it to Legal Group who will liaise with the hardship team and (if appropriate) the review officer.

The hardship application will be considered in line with the guidance at ARTG3330 and ARTG3340.

The tribunal may consider a hardship application only where HMRC have refused hardship. The customer can apply to the tribunal to decide the matter.

If the customer has applied to the tribunal but had not previously asked HMRC to consider their application for hardship, HMRC should consider the application when it is directed by the tribunal. The hardship application should therefore be referred to the Legal Group Hardship team.

If HMRC think the application is reasonable, the Hardship team will write to the customer accepting the hardship application and will issue a new decision informing the applicant and the Tribunals Service that the hardship application has been accepted.

If the customer appeals without making any hardship application at all, the litigator or lawyer should contact the customer or their representative with details of how to make a hardship application, giving them a set amount of time to make that application (21 days is likely to be reasonable).

If the customer does not apply in that time frame, the litigator should apply to have the matter struck out on the ground that the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal. If a hardship application subsequently arrives, it should be referred to the Hardship team via the process set out above. If it is accepted, the application should be withdrawn. If it is refused, it should be left in place until such a time as the customer applies directly to the Tribunal for Hardship (see ARTG3330).