Justice Costs - Charge For Tribunal Appeals

The government has proposed introducing fees for individuals appealing decisions to the tax tribunal as part of broader reforms to civil court funding, which also include increasing fees levied on divorce proceedings.

The Law Society has warned that the government’s plans to rebalance the costs of the judicial system threaten not only to undermine the principle of universal access to independent rulings, but also to tip the balance of power in disputes towards the tax authority.

As per the FT:

“The government is effectively selling justice by saying that you need to pay for the courts,” said Jonathan Smithers, the Law Society’s president.

To fight charges levied by one branch of government, you would have to pay another division of government . . . It leads to a feeling there’s a fairly heavy-handed state.”

Taxpayers can appeal to the first-tier tribunal, which is independent of government, when they dispute internal rulings made by HMRC. 

The Ministry of Justice, which is consulting on its proposals, has suggested fees of between £50 and £200 for referring cases to the first-tier tax tribunal, with hearing fees to range from £200 to £1,000 depending on their complexity. Appeals to the upper tribunal would incur an initial fee of £100, plus up to £2,000 for a hearing.

Justice now comes at a price, meaning that many people people will be put off appealing an HMRC ruling; which is exactly what the government wants!

Tax does have to be taxing.

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