Monmore Properties Limited v The Commissioners for HMRC
[2024] UKFTT 137 (TC)
Nottingham Forest Football Club Limited v The Commissioners for HMRC
22 May 2024
[2024] UKUT 145 (TCC)
Upper Tribunal
A football club was assessed for unpaid VAT. They argued the tax office took too long to assess them. The court ruled that the club had to prove the tax office was too late, and they didn't provide enough evidence. Therefore, the club lost the case.
Key Facts
- •HMRC assessed Nottingham Forest Football Club Limited (NFFC) for £345,561 VAT for 08/15.
- •The dispute centered on whether the assessment was made within the one-year time limit of section 73(6)(b) VAT Act 1994.
- •HMRC claimed knowledge of sufficient facts was complete on 9 May 2018; NFFC argued it was 20 April 2018.
- •The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) dismissed NFFC's appeal.
- •NFFC appealed to the Upper Tribunal (UT) on three grounds: incorrect test application, burden of proof error, and a perverse conclusion.
Legal Principles
The Commissioners' opinion on sufficient evidence to justify an assessment is key; knowledge is actual, not constructive.
Pegasus Birds Ltd v C & E Commissioners [1999] STC 95
The burden of proof is on the taxpayer to show the assessment was out of time.
Pegasus Birds Ltd v C & E Commissioners [1999] STC 95 (Proposition 6)
Section 73(6)(b) VATA's one-year time limit runs from when the last piece of sufficient evidence was communicated to HMRC, with knowledge of evidence's contents crucial, not just its existence.
Lithuanian Beer Ltd v HMRC [2018] EWCA Civ 1406
A finding of fact can be overturned if made without evidence or on an unreasonable view of facts.
Edwards v Bairstow [1956] AC 14
Outcomes
NFFC's appeal was dismissed.
The UT upheld the FTT's decision, finding that NFFC failed to discharge its burden of proof by not providing sufficient evidence to show HMRC had knowledge of sufficient facts before 9 May 2018. The UT also found that the FTT did not err in its application of legal tests or burden of proof.