In Simon Coates v HMRC [2015] UKFTT 460 (16 September 2015) the FTT found that an inaccuracy which had led to a refund claim being excessive by 46% had not been careless so that no penalty had been due.
Mr Coates had made a claim for a refund under VATA 1994 s 35 (VAT refunds for DIY housebuilders). However HMRC had disallowed eight invoices on the basis that the invoices issued to Mr Coates were ‘invalid as the goods/materials had been supplied and fitted or services had been provided in the course of construction of a new qualifying dwelling and no VAT should have been charged at all’. HMRC had also imposed a 15% penalty for inaccuracy treating the inaccuracies as careless and the disclosure as prompted (FA 2007 Sch 24).
Mr Coates’ accountant had written to HMRC explaining that the eight invoices had...
