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Supervisory and appellate jurisdiction and VAT appeals

In Dollar Land¹ Judge J summarised the distinction between an appellate and supervisory jurisdiction as follows²:

'in essence, while an “appellate” jurisdiction permits the tribunal to consider whether the decision of the Commissioners was based on appropriate evidence and correct application of the relevant legal principles, usually derived from the statutory framework, the 'supervisory' jurisdiction, when present, enables the tribunal to “review” the decision of the Commissioners.'

In another case, where the word was used differently, the distinction was described in the following terms³:

'The first matter in this appeal is to establish the nature of the appeal to the value added tax tribunal. Is it a rehearing whereby the tribunal can review the discretion of the commissioners and alter it or come to a different conclusion if it so desires, or does the tribunal on the other hand exercise only a supervisory