Roger Joye v The Commissioners for HMRC
Decision date: 5 June 2025
Neutral citation: [2025] UKFTT 664 (TC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This Tribunal allowed appeals by Mr Joye and Mr Sumners against HMRC closure notices cancelling overpayment relief (OPR) claims for top slicing relief (TSR), finding HMRC had not proved a "practice generally prevailing" (PGP) that would validate the TSR calculations at the filing dates. The Tribunal held the existence of a PGP is a factual question requiring evidence of a settled, ascertainable, generally adopted and consistently applied practice, and concluded HMRC did not discharge that burden. It found the previously asserted practice ceased after publication in September 2017 of a Taxation article challenging HMRC’s methodology. The appeals were allowed and the OPRs given effect, subject to rights to seek permission to appeal.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
A PGP is established only by evidence that the practice was readily ascertainable with precision, adopted by HMRC and generally by the taxpayer community, and applied consistently; where HMRC relies on a PGP to defeat an OPR claim it bears the evidential burden of proving the PGP existed at the relevant filing date. The Tribunal treated that principle as dispositive in these appeals.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The Tribunal observed that published guidance embedded in HMRC manuals and calculators can amount to an ascertainable practice, but adoption by HMRC alone is insufficient without general adoption by the taxpayer community. It also suggested that the publication of widely read professional critique and extensive correspondence can mark the point at which a previously prevailing practice ceases to be generally prevailing.
Warning
- The chunk contains extensive repetition and some internal date inconsistencies; care required when citing precise publication dates. The provided notes contain repetition and some internal date inconsistencies; they may be materially incomplete for precise chronology or amounts.