John Smith v The Commissioners for HMRC

Facts

The applicant, John Smith, a litigant in person, had been the principal of an accountancy business trading as Strauss Phillips & Co. He said he sold it in March 2003 to a Mr Dunne and ceased to be resident in the UK. HMRC opened enquiries in 2008 and in 2015 issued discovery assessments to income tax and VAT assessments covering 1994/95 to 2013/14, together with penalties. Following an evidence hearing in December 2025 and a submissions hearing in March 2026, the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber), a panel of Judge Popplewell and Tribunal Member Shillaker, released its decision on 6 May 2026. It found that the applicant remained in operational and strategic control of the business after 1 March 2003 and beneficially owned its income, and that his conduct was deliberate, dishonest and fraudulent. It dismissed the appeals against the discovery and VAT assessments, revising the income and turnover figures and leaving the computation to later directions. It allowed the appeal against the penalties for failure to comply with notices to file and dismissed the appeals against the other penalties. The First-tier Tribunal refused permission to appeal on 23 July 2026. On 22 August 2026 Mr Smith applied to the Upper Tribunal for permission on 21 grounds, later adding supplementary submissions, witness statements and two applications to adduce new evidence.