Tax & Accounting News

Builder wins right to sue HMRC

26/10/2007

The Court of Appeal has ruled that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) had a duty of care to process a company's application for a Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) certificate with reasonable expedition.

There had been a delay of 3 months in issuing a CIS6 certificate to the company, due to several HMRC errors. The most serious error was that a tax officer completed another application form that was different to the form submitted by the company. As a result, an incorrect certificate was issued, leading to a further delay.

The Court ruled that HMRC had a common law duty of care because the tax officer, in making a different application, had assumed authority. The company will now be able to proceed with a claim for damages.

Although this is a landmark ruling, the precedent is unlikely to apply to a large number of other cases, as the circumstances were unusual.

 

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