Updated guidance on historic VAT claims
HMRC have published updated internal guidance which will be of interest to taxpayers and their advisers who have submitted historic VAT claims. The title of the guidance mentions only ‘Fleming’ claims, however this document will be of interest to any businesses that have made historic VAT claims. These claims can date back as far as the introduction of VAT in 1973.
The guidance is divided into some 33 sections and includes details of the types of claims, both input and output tax, that the document refers to. The deadlines for submitting these claims have now passed. The last major deadline concerned ‘Fleming’ type claims expired on 31 March 2009.
There will however still remain a large number of claims which are outstanding and this document will assist in understanding issues that may arise in discussions with HMRC. Such issues include looking at the way the claim was calculated, claims by partnerships, claims by companies no longer in business, entitlement to statutory and compound interest and HMRC’s view as to the tax position of historic VAT recoveries in terms of corporation tax and income tax.
HMRC will also look at invoking the argument of ‘unjust enrichment’ especially where payment of an original capped claim had been reduced.