In HMRC v Tasca Tankers Ltd [2022] UKUT 88 (TCC) (18 March 2022) the UT held that the refusal of the FTT to strike out an appeal on the grounds that the appeal had no reasonable prospect of success should be set aside and that the case should be remitted to the FTT to be reconsidered by a different judge.
In 2014 (or thereabouts) Tasca Tankers (Tasca) commenced trading in second-hand cars which were largely purchased in Northern Ireland and then dispatched for sale to the Republic of Ireland. HMRC considered that these transactions were connected with the fraudulent evasion of VAT and HMRC denied input tax recovery in accordance with the Kittel principle (Axel Kittel v Belgium & Belgium v Recolta Recycling (Cases C-439/04 and C-440/04)) that Tasca knew or should have known that these transactions related to fraud. The total amount of input tax...
