1 General news
1.1 First-tier Tribunal awards costs in case where HMRC had no
reasonable prospects of success
A case recently heard in the First-tier Tribunal has once again
raised the question whether HMRC operates a suitably robust filter
system to ensure that cases taken to Tribunal have merit.
On 13 September 2012 the Tribunal upheld an appeal by ND and RC
Roden against a review decision issued by HMRC refusing to repay
£70,000 in input VAT.
HMRC's case at the hearing was in essence that the supply of
accommodation in an hotel made by the appellants was exempt because
it was not "the provision in a hotel of sleeping
accommodation" as the appellant's supply of an hotel room
was (deemed) not to be made to a person who would actually use the
accommodation and sleep in the room, but to an intermediary for
such a person.
