UK VAT refunds on Fleming claims subject to Corporation Tax

The UK’s Upper Tribunal court has ruled that Corporation Tax is due on any repayments of VAT from the UK’s HMRC as a result of the Fleming VAT case.  This concerned a case in 2009 involving a car dealer who challenged the UK’s decision to change the time it would refund overpaid VAT from six years to three years.  This left the UK VAT authorities with a bill of over £8 billion.

The Tax Court has held that both the capital refunds plus any interest were both subject to UK CT.  One of the reasons for this decision was that the appellant was not actually the original tax paper; instead it was part of the same VAT group.

It is likely that the case will proceed to the next court of appeal.