ARTG7550 - Applications to the tribunal: Customer applications to the tribunal

The Tribunals Service will notify HMRC of any application by a customer to the tribunal. They will send the notification to the Clearing House, see ARTG8320, who will pass the notification to the appropriate HMRC office.

The litigator should then take any appropriate action in line with operational guidance to deal with the application.

Application for partial or final closure of an enquiry

Applications made by a customer for the issue of partial or final closure notices during an enquiry into their self assessment return are usually categorised as Basic cases by the tribunal. But the tribunal will have categorised the case on the basis of information provided by the customer in their application, which may be very brief.

The tribunal will estimate the time required for a hearing based on the information provided by the customer. If the decision maker is aware that

• counsel and/or solicitors are involved,
• witnesses will be called, or
• the matter is likely to require more time than allowed by the tribunal, for example because it is complicated

then they should provide the tribunal with their estimate of the length of the hearing and the reason why.