Contents
Into The Unknown
Season Of Goodwill
Farewell Andre
Toon Done Doon
Day Of Reckoning
Artistic Licence
Gizmos Again
A Free Lunch
Sweet As Nectar
Security Concerns
Going For A Spin
The Cap Does Not Fit
While It's Hot?
Code Cracking
Bad Connection
Broken Trusts
You Can't Take It With You
Dividend Returns
IR35 RIP?
Spam Spam Spam
Breaking Up
Duty Calls
Time Shift
Moving Vans
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Ten years ago the government (John Major's!) tried to limit traders' rights to reclaim overpaid VAT. Up to then there was no particular time limit; in 1996 they tried to stop people going back more than three years before the date of the claim - known as the "three year cap". For something that was supposed to limit problems, this has been a catastrophe for Customs. Cases about this three-year limit have been going on for ten years, and promise to keep going on for several years to come - and the current court rulings are that the law was so badly brought in that it may not have any effect at all. It seems very likely that the limit should not apply before 1996. That may be no help now, of course - you may vaguely remember that you thought you'd paid too much VAT back then, but you threw away the records because they said you couldn't claim it. But if you do still have the evidence, it's worth digging it out. It's harder to see what will happen about the cap since then. Most people agree that some sort of cap is sensible. Going back ten or twenty years is ridiculous. The arguments about the introduction of the rules are strongest in relation to the VAT that was overpaid before then, because the government tried to take away the right to repayment without warning. After 1996 everyone knew that there was a cap, so it's more reasonable to apply it. But the courts may yet rule that the government should go back and start again. That would be a horrible mess - but perhaps you should keep your VAT records a little longer, in case some of them might be used for a claim.  |