How these issues will be resolved in the future will be watched with interest by practitioners, whether claimant or defendant, as greater clarification is provided over time. From a barrister’s perspective, the experience with advocacy fees in the fast track RTA/EL/PL portal regime (set in 2013) does not provide much comfort for practitioners. Defendant insurers will welcome the changes, providing a greater degree of certainty and limiting costs exposure.
This article concentrates on the features of the intermediate track and identifying the correct complexity band, particularly in relation to personal injury claims. Whilst the intention behind the new rules is to encourage early resolution and settlement of a claim, the changes are not simple, and there are likely to be difficulties in assigning claims to the correct track and complexity bands. These disputes will continue until further case law develops on this issue over time.
A significant percentage of American taxpayers have access to Free File, and a marketing survey suggested that 70% of them could benefit from it. However, of the 161 million individual income tax returns filed in fiscal year 2024, only 3.1 million (or roughly 1.93%) made use of the program. On the other hand, during the same time period, 141,000 returns were filed using Direct File, and 10.8 million were filed on paper in 12 states. The „free“ classification enables qualified taxpayers to use software from Free File Alliance members to prepare and electronically file their federal tax returns at no cost. The coming income tax filing season is only a few weeks away, and there are still a few questions and uncertainties. Fortunately, the IRS is usually pretty timely in sending refunds to most income tax filers (at least those who file on time, and without too many complicated issues on their returns).
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Those revisions apply to a claim where proceedings are issued on or after 1 October 2023 (subject to transitional provisions made in relation to certain personal injury cases). Before being scrapped, Direct File made it possible for eligible taxpayers to submit straightforward online forms to the IRS for a variety of income categories. Meanwhile, the Free File program, which has been in place since 2003, is accessible to anyone with an adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less in 2025. All taxpayers can use Free File Fillable Forms starting on January 26, while the program has been accepting returns since January 9. „The Internal Revenue Service is ready to help taxpayers meet their tax filing and payment obligations during the 2026 filing season,“ said IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano in a statement issued Jan. 8. New for 2025, report any relevant excess golden parachute payment amounts in Box 3.
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In particular, taxpayers with the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and a few other credits generally have their refunds delayed by about one month while the IRS confirms eligibility for these credits. This chart makes it easy to estimate when you will probably get your 2026 IRS income tax refund, based on when you file. The IRS no verification casino has announced that Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, will be the first day of tax season.
In cases where a complexity band is not agreed on, the Court will have to exercise its discretion and direct the complexity band that a case should be assigned to. (2) The date specified for filing a pre-trial check list shall not be more than 8 weeks before the trial date or the beginning of the trial period. (3) When it allocates a case to the intermediate track, the court may give directions or fix a case management conference under rule 28.12. 28.2.—(1) The court shall give directions for the management of the case and set a timetable for the steps to be taken between the giving of the directions and the trial.
For example, a case which settles at S5 (exchange of witness/expert evidence) in Complexity band 2, the FRC is £11,000 + 16% of the damages, as opposed to Complexity band 4, at £20,000 + 18% damages. The judgment reiterated that the introduction of the intermediate track in October 2023 aimed to bring a vast number of cases, particularly low-value RTA claims, into the fixed costs regime, reserving the multi-track for only the most serious and complex claims. The transitional provisions were designed to avoid injustice for existing PI claims, but this protection was deemed unnecessary for settled whiplash claims processed via the portal.
- (2) Any date set by the court or these Rules for doing any act may not be varied by the parties if the variation would make it necessary to vary any of the dates mentioned in paragraph (1).
- This article concentrates on the features of the intermediate track and identifying the correct complexity band, particularly in relation to personal injury claims.
- For higher value claims, Claimants are more likely to argue that the value will exceed £100,000, as this would mean that the claim will instead be allocated to the multi-track, where costs are awarded on the standard basis.
- 28.2.—(1) The court shall give directions for the management of the case and set a timetable for the steps to be taken between the giving of the directions and the trial.
The appeal clarified that for the purposes of the transitional provisions of the Civil Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2023, a „claim for personal injuries“ only arises where proceedings have actually been commenced seeking an award of damages for PI. Since the PI element in this case had already been resolved by agreement before the proceedings were issued and there was no prayer for PI damages in the claim form or particulars of claim, it was not a personal injury claim within the meaning of the rules. To be allocated to the intermediate track, claims will be tried within three days, each party will have at most two expert witnesses, with strict page limits for expert reports and witness statements. Within the intermediate track there are four complexity bands that a claim can be assigned to. The parties to a Claim can agree on a complexity band, however the Court retains discretion and may direct that a case be assigned to a different band than agreed by parties where it deems appropriate.