Taylor Clark Leisure plc v HMRC

In the Scottish case of Taylor Clark Leisure plc v HMRC (TC02443 – 8 January) a company (T) which was the representative member of a VAT group and had accounted for VAT on income from bingo and gaming machines submitted a repayment claim covering the period from 1973 to 1998 contending that it should have treated the relevant income as exempt. HMRC made the repayment in 2009 but subsequently issued assessments to recover the tax on the basis that the claim had been made outside the three-year time limit laid down by VATA 1994 s 80(4). T appealed. The First-tier Tribunal dismissed the appeal (but gave T leave to apply for a further hearing to consider the principle of ‘legitimate expectation’). Judge Reid also observed that the company (C) which had made the relevant supplies had left T’s group in 1998 and held...