Aiden Trading Limited v The Commissioners for HMRC
Decision date: 28 November 2024
Neutral citation: [2024] UKFTT 1073 (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
Aiden Trading Ltd applied for permission to bring a late appeal against HMRC’s decision to reduce its 08/22 VAT return to nil; the Notice of Appeal was filed over four months late against a 30‑day limit. The First-tier Tribunal applied a Denton-style three-stage approach, found the delay serious and significant, accepted no cogent or credible explanation for the delay, and refused permission to file the late appeal. The Tribunal treated findings from a separate Tribunal decision as irrelevant to the lateness application and recorded the parties’ right 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
The Tribunal applied the three-stage Denton (or Denton-like) test when considering permission to bring a late appeal: assess the seriousness of the breach (here a delay of over four months was held to be serious and significant), inquire into the reason for the breach (the appellant gave no cogent or credible explanation), and balance the overall justice of granting or refusing relief. The Tribunal proceeded on the presumption that permission should not be granted unless satisfied otherwise, and dismissed the application on those grounds.
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 indicated that factual findings from a different Tribunal decision on different evidence are not binding in the present application and may be excluded from consideration if irrelevant. It also noted that, when deciding permission to appeal out of time, the Tribunal will not undertake a detailed merits examination and will only consider whether the underlying case is obviously stronger or weaker.