August 19, 2010

VAT claims under ‘Fleming’

In 1996 the government reduced the time limit for claiming overpaid VAT to 3 years from the date of the overpayment. A similar 3 year time limit was also introduced for input tax claims in 1997. Both provisions had retrospective as well as prospective effect. Neither provisions contained transitional provisions to allow claims to be made for a limited time period under the old rules before the new time limits came into effect.

HM Revenue and Customs issued a Business Brief 07/2008 as a result of the House of Lords decision in both Fleming and Conde Nast cases. As you are probably aware, this Brief allows claims to be submitted to HMRC for output tax overpaid in accounting periods ending before 04 December 1996 and input tax under claimed in accounting periods ending before 01 May 1997.

There are 2 aspects to these refunds that may be of interest to yourselves and your clients.

Firstly there are those clients who may have submitted claims in the past and had them capped and those who would like to submit fresh claims.

If you wish to discuss this issue please do not hesitate to call.

Elysian Associates
October 2008

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