VAT Cases & News

In Mark Young T/A The St Helens v HMRC [2012] TC02371 the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) found that the grant of a lease over a restaurant was a transfer of a going concern for VAT purposes, as a result the purchaser was required to be VAT registered.

In Silvergate Support Services Limited v HMRC [2017] TC05854 the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) did not accept that payment of VAT to HMRC's bank account constituted a notification of an underassessment.

In Colaingrove Limited v HMRC [2017] EWCA Civ 332 the Court of Appeal held that the reduced rate of VAT could not be applied to electricity supplied as part of a holiday let.

In James Hillis v HMRC [2013] TC02611 a penalty for failure to notify liability for VAT was quashed by the FTT: HMRC failed to consider the compliance intention of the law.

• A solicitor setting up a new practice failed to realise that turnover for VAT registration purposes should be calculated on a rolling basis. He was late in registering for VAT as a result.
• HMRC issued a late registration penalty under schedule 41 FA 2008.
• The taxpayer appealed he claimed that he had made an honest mistake and that there were special circumstances.

The FTT quashed the penalty: it was satisfied that HMRC’s decision on special circumstances in the appeal was flawed in that HMRC did not consider whether the penalty met the clear compliance intention of the law having regard to the Appellant’s individual circumstances.

Links

How to appeal a tax penalty (subscriber version)

James Hillis v HMRC [2013] TC02611

In Swanfield Limited & Others v HMRC [2017] UKUT 0088 the Upper Tribunal (UT) held that VAT payments can be allocated to current period VAT in order to minimise default surcharges.

In Adecco UK Limited & Others v HMRC [2017] UKUT 0113 the Upper Tribunal (UT) found that an employment agency, attempting to rely on the Reed decision, was making a supply of self-employed temporary workers for VAT purposes.