Readers’ forum: Too late to appeal assessments which may be invalid?

I have been reading the recent First-tier Tribunal Brown case (TC9114) with interest as I have a couple of clients in the same position. The case was about the high-income child benefit charge (HICBC) and the tribunal ruled that the discovery assessments HMRC had raised were invalid because they were raised in the name of the HICBC team and not an individual officer. My clients were assessed in exactly the same way as Mr Brown. I didn’t advise my clients to appeal at the time because I didn’t think that there was any possibility of success.

My question is: do I have a potential professional indemnity problem in this scenario and regardless of that should I advise my clients to make a late appeal? I assume that HMRC would not accept such an appeal but is it possible that a tribunal might admit it on the basis...