Reviews and appeals
60Powers of tribunal
1
This section applies where a person is appealing to the Tribunal under section 56 against an appealable decision.
2
In a case where the appealable decision is a decision under section 47 to assess a penalty, or to assess a penalty of a particular amount, the Tribunal may do any of the following—
a
uphold the penalty;
b
set aside the penalty;
c
substitute for the penalty a penalty of an amount decided by the Tribunal.
3
In any other case, the Tribunal must either—
a
dismiss the appeal, or
b
quash the whole or part of the decision to which the appeal relates.
4
The Tribunal may act as mentioned in subsection (3)(b) only to the extent that it is satisfied that the decision was wrong on one or more of the following grounds—
a
that the decision was based, wholly or partly, on an error of fact;
b
that the decision was wrong in law.
5
If the Tribunal quashes the whole or part of a decision, it may either—
a
refer the matter back to HMRC with a direction to reconsider and make a new decision in accordance with its ruling, or
b
substitute its own decision for that of HMRC.
This is subject to section 61(8).
6
The Tribunal may not direct HMRC to take any action which they would not otherwise have the power to take in relation to the decision.
7
A decision of the Tribunal made by virtue of this section has the same effect as, and may be enforced in the same manner as, a decision of HMRC.
8
In this section “the Tribunal” means—
a
the First-tier Tribunal, or
b
in Northern Ireland, the appeal tribunal (within the meaning of section 59(3)).