R (on the application of Haworth) vs Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. Supreme Court 2021 UKSC 25

Please see the following message from HMRC regarding the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the above case:

On 2 July, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the case R (on the application of Haworth) vs Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. The case related to a Follower Notice (FN) issued to Mr Haworth, and the Accelerated Payment Notice (APN) which accompanied it. HMRC may issue FNs to users of avoidance schemes which, in the opinion of HMRC, have been shown to fail in another person’s litigation. APNs can be issued with FNs and require the recipient to pay the disputed tax to HMRC pending resolution of the dispute.

This was the first challenge to the FN legislation to be considered by the Supreme Court. HMRC lost the case on all grounds.

The Court provided a useful clarification of the test HMRC must apply when deciding whether to issue Follower Notices. HMRC are considering the judgment carefully and the extent to which any customers who have received FNs might be affected.  There is no need for customers to contact us about this case, we will contact any customers we think will be affected by the judgment as soon as possible.