The Rank Group Plc v HMRC

In The Rank Group Plc v HMRC [2019] UKUT 100 (1 April 2019) the UT found that HMRC had miscalculated the amount due to Rank under repayment claims.

The appeal related to a claim for repayment of overpaid VAT under VATA 1994 s 80(1B). This claim arose according to Rank because three claims made by Rank under s 80(1) had been wrongly calculated by HMRC as HMRC had wrongly left out of account payments by Rank which should have been included in those claims resulting in underpayments to Rank by HMRC.

HMRC contended that a taxable person should not be able to reclaim over-declared output tax without giving credit for the associated input tax otherwise this would result in an unjust enrichment of the taxable person. In HMRC’s view the payment of output tax and the deduction of input tax within the same...