The UK government have suggested ways so that people will have to pay in order to challenge the HMRC’s tax assessments before a tribunal. However, these proposals have received some criticism by the CIOT (Chartered Institute of Taxation).
The plans to introduce fees has been announced during summer and a deadline for comments was set for the 15th of September to help fund the Upper Tribunal and First-tier Tax Tribunal which currently costs around £8.7 million per year to run, which are currently being paid using taxpayer funds.

The proposal for charging a fee is a request from the Ministry of Justice, basic hearing are to be charged at £50 and for standard or complex cases to be charged at a rate of £200; with some being charged up to £1000 for the complex cases.

The Ministry of Justice continues that for cases referred to the Upper Tribunal, suggesting that if someone seeks permission to appeal, this should be charged £100 and a further £200 to appeal the judgement. However, taxpayers will be obligated to pay £2000 for a substantive appeal hearing. Nonetheless, these proposals are hoped to cover around a quarter of the operating costs of the two tribunals.