John Sloan v Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs
Decision date: 18 November 2009
Neutral citation: [2009] UKFTT 310 (TC)
Overall AI summary confidence: medium
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: medium
John Sloan appealed a VAT assessment of £127,241 covering mid‑2006 to early‑2007, arguing he was entitled to deduct input tax shown on invoices from two subcontractors. The Tribunal found the subcontractor invoices did not meet Regulation 14(1) requirements, there was no reliable proof of payment, and the Commissioners acted to the best of their judgment in making the assessment. The appeal was dismissed and the assessment with interest was upheld.
Ratio decidendi
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AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
A taxable person seeking to deduct input tax must produce documentary evidence that satisfies statutory invoice requirements (time, adequate description, quantity/extent, unit price); where invoices are deficient and proof of payment is not provided, HMRC may properly refuse the deductions and make an assessment using their best judgment.
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 notes record that handing deficient invoices to the assessing officer would not have altered the result, and that the burden lies on the taxpayer to show an assessment was not made to HMRC’s best judgment; these remarks appear as commentary rather than central holdings.
Warning
This chunk contains substantial repetition of the same material and is verbose. notes are verbose and repetitive and may be materially incomplete; they are the sole source for this summary.