HMRC assessed CF Booth Ltd for VAT on the basis that it either knew, or should have known, that its purchases and sales of scrap metal were connected with VAT fraud. In 2017, the First-tier Tribunal upheld the assessments, and its decision that CFB actually knew of the fraud led HMRC to impose penalties of £1.45m on CFB for deliberately getting its VAT returns wrong. CFB appealed, arguing that the FTT’s findings in relation to VAT did not automatically mean that it has made a deliberate error.
Source Deloitte
