Best Buys Supplies Limited v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Decision date: 6 July 2010
Neutral citation: [2010] UKFTT 304 (TC)
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
Best Buys Supplies Ltd appealed HMRC’s assessment disallowing input VAT of £110,324 claimed on invoices from Samson, a supplier who had been VAT-deregistered. The tribunal found on the balance of probabilities that the supplies occurred and that HMRC unreasonably failed to carry out the promised reconsideration, but concluded that a proper central review applying HMRC’s 2003 Statement of Practice and Appendix 2 criteria would nevertheless have produced the same result. The appeal was dismissed and no costs order was made at that stage.
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: medium
Where HMRC exercise discretion under Regulation 29(2) they must consider relevant evidence and not disregard material matters in reaching a decision; in claims involving suppliers in sectors identified as high risk by HMRC’s Statement of Practice, claimants lacking valid VAT invoices will generally need to satisfy the central-review/App.2 criteria for that discretion to be exercised in their favour.
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 tribunal treated the 2003 Statement of Practice as a reasonable (though not legally binding) guide to how HMRC may exercise discretion on invoice-less input tax claims, and said that an administrative decision vitiated by procedural irregularity can nonetheless stand if it would inevitably have been the same on proper reconsideration.