Mobile Export Ltd v HMRC

In Mobile Export Ltd v HMRC (No 4) (and related appeal) (TC 00649 – 2 September) two companies reclaimed substantial amounts of input tax relating to purported transactions in mobile telephones. HMRC rejected the claims on the basis that the transactions formed part of a ‘missing trader intra-Community fraud’. The companies appealed to the VAT Tribunal. At the hearing of their appeals HMRC applied to introduce a witness statement from an accountant who was employed by a major accountancy firm.

The companies objected to this witness statement and applied to introduce evidence of French law with regard to the French interpretation of the CJEC decision in Kittel v Belgian State [2008] STC 1537. The tribunal chairman (Dr Williams) rejected this application and admitted the witness statement from the accountant. The companies lodged an interlocutory application in the Ch D objecting to both of the...