Geoffrey Khan v The Commissioners for HMRC

Facts

Mr Khan was the sole director of Teqniq Limited. On 8 November 2022 HMRC imposed on Teqniq a penalty of £247,024.80 under section 69C of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, on the basis that it knew or should have known its transactions were connected with VAT fraud. On 12 January 2023 HMRC issued Mr Khan with a personal liability notice under section 69D of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 for the same penalty. A review later varied the penalty to £233,013.60. On 22 August 2023, through authorised representatives, Mr Khan appealed against the notice under reference TC/2023/09574. On 31 January 2024 those representatives emailed the Tribunal, copying HMRC, to withdraw that appeal and two others. HMRC gave no notice of unwillingness to treat the appeal as withdrawn, and no reinstatement application followed the Tribunal's letter of 1 May 2024. On 9 November 2025 Mr Khan, a litigant in person, lodged a fresh appeal against the same notice (TC/2025/04762) with an application to appeal out of time. He said he did not understand the effect of the withdrawal and had been poorly advised. HMRC applied on 22 December 2025 to strike out the appeal under rules 5 and 8 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009, arguing there was no jurisdiction and, alternatively, res judicata and abuse of process.