VAT – Overturning a VAT penalty charge

Our case study relates to a business that was subject to a routine HMRC VAT inspection which uncovered a number of VAT reporting errors. HMRC raised an assessment and decided to apply a penalty charge.

Gavin West, Head of VAT and Indirect Taxes at Smith Cooper conducted a thorough review of the business’s circumstances, helping justify to HMRC that the company had in fact taken reasonable care in respect of its VAT reporting processes.

HMRC’s penalty regimes can be notoriously harsh, and equally complex to overturn, but following our intervention HMRC decided to reconsider their decision, suspending the penalty charge, saving our client a considerable sum.