Shane Matin v The Commissioners for HMRC

Facts

Shane Matin has been identified as the sole company officer of APQ Developments Ltd, and Personal Liability Notices were issued to him in respect of the company's corporation tax and construction industry scheme liabilities. His substantive appeal against those notices remains before the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber). On 22 April 2025 HMRC applied for further and better particulars of the appeal and for an extension of time to serve its Statement of Case, an application the applicant opposed. On 13 August 2025, after HMRC had sought further time to respond to his submissions, the applicant applied to bar HMRC from further participation in the proceedings, relying on Rule 8(3)(c) and Rule 8(3)(b) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009, as applied to respondents by Rule 8(7), on the bases that HMRC had no realistic prospect of successfully defending the appeal and that it had engaged in procedural misconduct and delay. That application prompted a direction of Judge Brooks made on 11 September 2025 requiring HMRC to state by 25 September whether it objected; the applicant maintained that HMRC's requests for a copy of the application and more time amounted to non-compliance. The First-tier Tribunal dismissed the barring application on 4 March 2026 and refused permission to appeal, and the Upper Tribunal refused permission on the papers on 16 June 2026.