VAT campaign gathers speed

CRN has been flooded with responses to our campaign on the problems caused by HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) VAT repayment process.

One trader has vowed to take its fight with HMRC all the way to the European Courts of Justice.

Late last year, Northamptonshire-based mobile phone trader Livewire Telecom invoked a Judicial Review process through the High Courts against HMRC after it withheld a seven-figure VAT repayment for eight months under its ‘extended verification’ process. However, HMRC thwarted the review before it went to court by refusing to repay the VAT.

Now Livewire, which had to let its four staff go, is awaiting an appeal hearing with the official VAT Tribunal in London later this year.

Richard Gallant, director of Livewire, said: “We are financially on our knees and haven’t traded since April. HMRC has already confirmed that there is no missing trader fraud in our supply chains. We are the first in the UK to go to tribunal and we will go all the way to Europe if we have to.”

An HMRC representative told CRN that the government body “does not comment on individual cases”.

However, Anthony Elliot-Square, director of industry body the Federation of Technological Industries, said: “HMRC is using its power to target innocent traders rather than fraudsters. Livewire has no choice but to go for it."

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