There is one email I will not send without written instruction already in the file. It withdraws a tax appeal: the client no longer wishes to proceed. On 31 January 2024 Geoffrey Khan's representatives sent that email to the Tribunal and to HMRC. Thirty days later, HMRC having said nothing at all, £233,013.60 of personal liability was as final as if a judge had ruled on it. Nobody had ruled on anything.
TL;DR: A withdrawal notification is not a step you can take back. After 30 days of HMRC silence, statute deems the decision upheld and the Tribunal loses jurisdiction for good. The 28-day reinstatement right in the procedure rules expires first, so the confirmation letter can arrive already worthless.
What did that one email actually do?
It triggered a deeming provision, not a request. Section 85(4) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 says that once an appellant notifies HMRC they do not wish to proceed, and 30 days pass without HMRC objecting in writing, the parties are treated as having agreed the decision stands "without variation" (VATA 1994 s85), which puts the appeal where a determined one would sit.
The figures were not small. HMRC penalised Teqniq Limited under section 69C VATA, which charges 30% of the potential lost VAT where someone knew or should have known a transaction was connected with fraudulent evasion, then transferred it to Mr Khan under section 69D (Khan v HMRC, 2026).
Why didn't the 28-day reinstatement window save him?
Because it closed before anyone told him it existed. Rule 17(3) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009 lets a party who has withdrawn apply to reinstate, and rule 17(4) gives 28 days from the Tribunal's receipt of that notice (SI 2009/273).
Count the dates. The notice went in on 31 January 2024, so the reinstatement right ran out around 28 February, and the deeming bit two days later. The Tribunal's letter confirming the withdrawal, and helpfully advising Mr Khan of his 28-day window, was dated 1 May 2024. He says he only learned the appeal had gone when a Tribunal clerk telephoned him on 18 September 2025.
This is not a one-case quirk. In OWD Ltd, Judge Falk held that once the 30 days expire without objection there is no power to reinstate, because rule 5(3)(a) cannot extend a limit set by another enactment (OWD Ltd v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 497 (TC)).
Most practitioners think this is a VAT problem. It isn't.
I assumed the same until I read the two provisions side by side. The common belief is that VAT withdrawals are uniquely unforgiving and direct tax appeals can always be reinstated inside 28 days. Section 54(4) of the Taxes Management Act 1970 uses almost identical wording: notification, thirty days, no objection, deemed agreement that the assessment is upheld without variation (TMA 1970 s54). The same guillotine sits over income tax and corporation tax appeals.
What do I do differently now?
Judge Sukul accepted Mr Khan may well have been poorly advised by more than one professional, and struck the appeal out anyway. The Tribunal, as she put it, is a creature of statute. Once jurisdiction has gone the client's only route is a negligence claim against the adviser, and for an ACCA firm under £600,000 of income that claim lands on cover of the greater of 2.5 times income or £100,000 (ACCA PII requirements).
So, three things. I never notify a withdrawal without dated written instruction naming the appeal reference and the amount at stake. I diarise day 25 from notification, not day 28, because the clock runs from the Tribunal's receipt and post is not evidence. And on any handover I ask whether a live appeal was ever withdrawn, which now sits alongside everything else I check in the old accountant's files. Same discipline I applied when sanctionable conduct went live, aimed at the one irreversible act in the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a withdrawn VAT appeal be reinstated at the tribunal?
Only inside a narrow window, and often not at all. Rule 17(4) allows a written application within 28 days of the Tribunal receiving the withdrawal notice. Once 30 days pass without HMRC objecting, section 85(4) VATA deems the decision upheld and no jurisdiction remains.
Does my accountant need my written permission to withdraw a tax appeal?
No statute requires it, which is the problem. Neither section 85 VATA nor section 54 TMA asks whether the agent had authority, and the Tribunal does not test that before the deeming takes effect. Ask your adviser to confirm any withdrawal to you in writing before they notify HMRC, and keep the reply.
What is a personal liability notice and when can HMRC use one?
It shifts a company's VAT penalty onto an individual. Where a company is penalised under section 69C VATA, section 69D lets HMRC make a director or officer personally liable where the conduct is attributable to them. Mr Khan's assumption that liquidating the company would settle matters was wrong, much as liquidation does not kill a director's loan.
If you have inherited a client with an appeal history you cannot account for, or you are weighing up a withdrawal, get in touch and I will go through the dates with you. Twenty minutes, and the cheapest file work you will ever do.