Zipvit Ltd (Appellant) v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Respondent)

Judgment given

Case summary
Interim Judgment details
Full Judgment details
Appeal
Change log

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2018/0152

Parties

Appellant(s)

See judgment

Respondent(s)

See judgment

Issue

Where a customer pays a supplier for what both parties mistakenly believe is a VAT-exempt supply, but turns out to be standard rated, can the customer claim a deduction of input tax from HMRC for the VAT element of the original payment?

Facts

Zipvit used postal services provided by Royal Mail. All parties believed that the services were exempt from VAT but the European Court of Justice subsequently decided they are not. Zipvit therefore claims a deduction for input tax in respect of the payments it made for these services, which it says as a matter of law included an element of VAT. Royal Mail has never paid the VAT to HMRC. Many cases stand behind Zipvit’s case, selected as a lead case, and the total amount of tax at stake is in excess of £1 billion.