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HMRC internal manual

Advance Tax Certainty Service

ATCS06500 - Governance and legal: what happens if case law changes

It is not possible to protect against changes to case law. Where a court decision that is binding and final changes how HMRC must apply the law, and does so in relation to a tax treatment agreed in the clearance, that aspect of the clearance would cease to apply.

‘Binding’ means decisions issued by a higher court than the First Tier Tribunal and ‘final’ means the appellant cannot, has exceeded the time limit to or has been refused the right to appeal.

A taxpayer may choose to amend those returns that are affected by a court decision.