Partially estopped

A company applied for a construction industry certificate CIS5 in September 2005. HMRC rejected the application so the company appealed to the General Commissioners. The company's appeal was dismissed on the grounds that it had not complied with its obligations under TA 1988 s 565.

In March 2006 the company applied again for a CIS5 certificate which again HMRC refused. This time the company appealed to the Special Commissioners. As a preliminary issue HMRC said that the company was estopped from raising certain issues either because the doctrine of estoppel applied or because it would be an abuse of process to relitigate issues which had arisen before the General Commissioners or because the matters that the General Commissioners had decided were conclusively determined by virtue of TMA 1970 s 46(2) and not open to re-examination on a second appeal.

The...