Impossible TV Limited v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Decision date: 24 June 2011
Neutral citation: [2011] UKFTT 413 (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
Impossible TV Ltd appealed a 5% default VAT surcharge of £3,044.05 for the period 12/09, challenging service of earlier surcharge notices, claiming a reasonable excuse for late payment, and arguing disproportionate sanction. The Tribunal found the statutory "last or usual" address in s.98 VATA refers to the taxpayer's last actual place of business, concluded on the evidence that at least one earlier notice and the 13 Nov 2009 SLEN were received, rejected the appellant's unsubstantiated online banking excuse, and held the 5% surcharge was correctly applied. The appeal was dismissed.
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
The tribunal treated "last or usual" address in section 98 VATA as the taxpayer's last actual place of business rather than merely the sender's last known address, and it applied ordinary evidential principles that notices dispatched by HMRC will be treated as served if, on the balance of probabilities, they were in fact received by the taxpayer; vague, unsupported assertions of electronic banking difficulties do not amount to a reasonable excuse for late VAT payment.
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 indicated that, absent clear evidence of postal disruption such as a strike, it will not infer such causes for delayed or non-receipt of notices, and suggested that contemporaneous postal records (for example, a post book) would strengthen a party's case that notices were not received.