EDWARD PHELAN v Revenue & Customs (TAX AND NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS - whether income was salary or bursary - whether in-time income tax repayment claim made)

TAX AND NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS - whether income was salary or bursary - whether in-time income tax repayment claim made - whether concession for Widening Access Training Scheme (�WATS�) courses applied - Tribunal jurisdiction in relation to concessions - appeal refused

For the Respondents: �� Ms Helen Davies, Litigator of HM Revenue and Customs� Solicitor�s Office

             Between 30 April 2012 and 22 March 2013, Mr Phelan attended a course (�the Course�) run by the University of Essex (�the University�).� On 12 March 2017, Mr Phelan wrote to HM Revenue & Customs (�HMRC�) seeking a repayment of the income tax and National Insurance Contributions (�NICs�) which had been deducted from his pay during the period he had attended the Course.�

             Mr Phelan�s position was that the money he had been paid was a bursary and therefore:

(1)           �exempt from tax under the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 (�ITTOIA�), s 776, and from NICs under Sch 3, Part VII, para 12 of the National Insurance Contributions Regulations 2001 (�the NICs Regs�); and in any event