Gower Chemicals Limited v Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, SPC 00713
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | Dr John Avery Jones CBE |
| Judgment Date | 05 November 2008 |
| Respondent | Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs |
| Appellant | Gower Chemicals Limited |
| Reference | SPC 00713 |
| Court | Special Commissioners (UK) |
Spc00713
ERROR OR MISTAKE CLAIM – trading profit – some deposits unclaimed by the customer – whether deposits belong to the Appellant when received – yes – appeal dismissed
GOWER CHEMICALS LIMITED Appellant
- and -
Special Commissioner: DR JOHN F. AVERY JONES CBE
Sitting in public in Cardiff on 30 October 2008
John Brooks, counsel, instructed by Griffith & Miles chartered accountants, for the Appellant
Colin Williams, HMRC Local Compliance Appeals, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2008
DECISION
Gower Chemicals Limited appeals against refusal of error or mistake claims for the years ended 31 July 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Appellant was represented by Mr John Brooks, and the Respondents (“the Revenue”) by Mr Colin Williams.
There was an agreed statement of facts as follows.
The trading activity of the Appellant company is the sale of chemicals
These are supplied to its customers in returnable containers.
The relationship between the Appellant and its customers are governed by the Appellant’s “General Conditions of Sale” (the “Conditions”).
Conditions 6.10 to 6.11 of the Conditions make provision for the payment of a “refundable deposit” by a customer in respect of a returnable container which remains the property of the Appellant at all times.
On the return of a container to the Appellant “in good condition and in reasonable time” the Appellant will issue a credit note to the customer to the value of the “refundable deposit” “which may be used to set off against any invoice raised” by the Appellant to that customer “within 12 months” following its due of issue “and thereafter shall become void” and the Appellant shall have no further liability to that customer.
Despite the issue of monthly statements by the Appellant in which any outstanding amount due to a customer were stated, credits were not taken in respect of all of the containers that had been returned.
In the...
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