The Upper Tribunal has allowed HMRC’s appeal in HMRC v Total Technology (Engineering) Ltd (Upper Tribunal – 29 November). A company (T) paid its VAT liability for the period ending 30 June 2009 one day late. HMRC imposed a surcharge of £4 260. T appealed contending that the surcharge was disproportionate. The Upper Tribunal rejected this contention and upheld the surcharge holding that ‘there is nothing in the VAT default surcharge which leads us to the conclusion that its architecture is fatally flawed’. The tribunal specifically distinguished the earlier decision in Enersys Holdings UK Ltd ([2010] SFTD 387) which involved a surcharge of £131 881 and held that the surcharge here did not give rise to any breach of the principle of proportionality.
Why it matters: This is an important victory for HMRC as the Upper Tribunal chaired by Warren...
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