Privin Corporation Ltd v HMRC
Bark & Co successfully represented a former mobile phone trader in its Appeal in the First Tier Tax Tribunal against HMRC VAT assessments against it of just over £1 million. Further to the VAT assessments HMRC denied the trader the right to input VAT tax on the grounds that the input tax was incurred in 9 transactions which formed part of an overall scheme to defraud the public revenue. HMRC alleged that the transactions were connected with Missing Trader Inter Community (“MTIC”) and that further to the test in Alex Kittel v Belgium [2006] C-439, the trader knew or should have known of this fact. Bark & Co instructed Matthew Buckland of Carmelite Chambers and the trial was held in June 2013. The Tribunal’s Decision released on 3 March 2015 bucked the current trend in MTIC decisions and found in favour of the taxpayer.
