Zenith Publishing Ltd v Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, V 20973
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | Miss J GORT |
| Judgment Date | 13 March 2009 |
| Respondent | Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs |
| Appellant | Zenith Publishing Ltd |
| Reference | V 20973 |
| Court | VAT & Duties Tribunal (UK) |
20973
VALUE ADDED TAX – Input tax – Whether sums paid by Director of company defending a claim against him in his private capacity are properly incurred for the purposes of the business – s.24 Value Added Tax Act 1994 – Appeal dismissed
ZENITH PUBLISHING LTD Appellant
and –
Tribunal: MISS J C GORT (Chairman)
MR K GODDARD MBE
Sitting in public in Norwich on 26 February 2009
No appearance by or on behalf of the Appellant
Mr Jonathan Davey of counsel, instructed by the solicitors office, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2009
1. This is an appeal against a decision of the Commissioners to issue a Notice of Assessment for value added tax plus interest dated 1 June 2006 in the sum of £10,365 plus £602.02 interest. The assessment is in respect of input tax over-declared in the prescribed accounting periods ending November 2004 to November 2005. On or around 30 October 2006 an amended assessment was issued amending the amount of interest claimed to £923.73.
2. By its Notice of Appeal Zenith set out its grounds of appeal as follows:
“The nexus of reply in this action was that the legal fees upon which VAT was charged (although no VAT invoice has ever been produced) were as a result of defending an action for the recovery of moneys paid to and used for the business. Neither I [Paul Turner director of the Appellant] nor my wife had any interest in the monies.”
3. Prior to the hearing of the appeal Mr Turner, a director of the Appellant, had requested an adjournment of the hearing of the appeal on the basis that for a variety of reasons, including that he had not had sufficient time to deal with the appeal and that he did not have sufficient funds to obtain advice or to attend the hearing. The evidence in this case relates to events in 2004 and 2005, and in the circumstances we do not consider it to be in the interest of justice that this appeal should be adjourned. In the circumstances we proceeded to hear the appeal under the provisions of rule 26(2) of Value Added Tax Tribunal Rules 1986.
The facts
4. The Appellant (“Zenith”) is a music publishing company based at Barhams, Bakers Lane, Linton, Cambridgeshire. It was registered for VAT with effect from 1 March 1999.
5. On 6 February 2006 a Mrs Jane Gough wrote to Zenith to arrange a visit appointment for 27 February 2006 in order to verify its VAT returns for the periods ending 31 May 2003 to 30 November 2005. At that...
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