VAT group representative member entitled to a group VAT reclaim, not the former VAT group member incurring the VAT

Wed 03 Apr 2019

The significant sums claimed as a result of incorrect levying of VAT in the UK, such as in the case of car dealership trade and the bingo business, has led to a number of questions concerning who is entitled to the repayments.  These include:

• Which entity has a right to claim back the VAT in a situation where the goods or services on which the VAT was wrongly levied were supplied by companies which were at the time of the supply members of a VAT group?
• What happens if the ‘real world supplier’ has left the VAT group at the time the claim is made?

HMRC’s view that it was only the VAT group representative member that had the right to the repayment, even in cases where that representative member had been dissolved, was upheld at an earlier UT hearing and also now at the Court of Appeal, in the case of  Lloyds Bank and others.

For a further discussion of the administration involved in making VAT reclaims, please get in touch with a member of the Mazars indirect tax team.