.png)
.png)
Public funding (formerly legal aid) is now available for certain cases before the VAT and Duties Tribunal, including legal advice prior to the tribunal and legal representation at the tribunal, subject to eligibility criteria.
Public funding (formerly legal aid) is now available for certain cases before the VAT and Duties Tribunal, including legal advice prior to the tribunal and legal representation at the tribunal, subject to eligibility criteria.
To be eligible for funding, the proceedings must concern penalties which the courts have declared to be criminal within the terms specified by the European Convention on Human Rights or where an applicant seeks to argue that issue; and it must be in the interests of justice for an applicant to be legally represented. In practice, funding is most likely to be available where the applicant is seeking to contest a penalty, which is substantial either in terms of its amount or its impact, and which has been imposed beyond the assessed liability. The applicant must also be financially eligible for funding. Applicants on income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance are automatically financially eligible.
Each application is subject to the statutory tests of the applicant's means and the merits of his or her case. All applications should be made to the Legal Services Commission, 62-68 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1LA. Applications should be made via a solicitor or another authorised organisation.
(Source: Customs and Excise notice dated 6 June 2001. See also the article, 'Legal Aid – Is It Worth It?' Taxation, 24 May 2001 at pages 179 to 181.)
