Ezy Solutions Ltd (In Liquidation) Milo Corporation Ltd (In Liquidation) v His Majesty's Revenue & Customs
Decision date: 9 March 2023
Neutral citation: Neutral citation not available
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This case concerned HMRC's application to prove circa £50m of VAT loss by reliance on a MUC schedule and sampling 50 underlying transactions without having served the underlying documents to the appellants. The Tribunal refused the sampling application as premature, concluding the appellants must first be provided the underlying evidence so they can judge representativeness and meet the case against them. The Tribunal granted limited permission to amend grounds to plead assessments were not to best judgment unless HMRC objected within seven days, and directed parties to agree further directions.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
Sampling as a case-management tool is only appropriate where the party against whom sampling is to be used has been given sufficient underlying evidence to assess whether any sample would be representative; withholding the underlying evidence makes sampling unfair or premature and a party must know the case against it before sampling proceeds.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The judgment noted authorities supporting sampling (including Megantic and an unreported decision of Judge Berner) may assist where evidence has been disclosed but are of limited assistance where disclosure is absent; and that the volume of evidence alone does not justify withholding disclosure.