Awards Drinks Limited (In liquidation) v HMRC

Joseph and Tristan represented the taxpayer in a case where HMRC were criticised for making the appeal needlessly complicated and confusing. Permission to appeal was granted on application to the upper tribunal where Judge Richards held:

I will say only that, contrary to what I had thought when refusing permission to appeal on the papers, Mr Howard has satisfied me that it is arguable that there is a “missing step” in the FTT’s reasoning. If, as the Applicant alleges, it effected in-bond transactions that caused it to lose possession and control of the goods while they were located in France, then it is arguable that, even though it had rejected as untrue the Applicant’s account of who its customers were and how they paid, the FTT needed to go on explain how the Applicant came to make subsequent supplies of those goods in the UK. Moreover, if, as the Applicant alleges, it lost possession and/or control of the goods while they were outside the UK, it is arguable that, to the extent those goods were the subject of taxable supplies in the UK, those supplies must have been effected by persons other than the Applicant (so that the Applicant cannot have been liable for VAT on those supplies).