Too good to be true

The appellant company Express Food Supplies appealed against an HMRC penalty assessment under FA 2007 Sch 24 which related to an error within a VAT return concerning the three-month period from 1 February 2009 to 30 April 2009.

The problem arose after an out-of-trend business repayment of £21 660.82 was submitted by the appellant company to HMRC who in turn required clarification that the return was correct by way of purchase invoices.

It emerged that the appellant company’s accounts administrator had been on holiday for the period in question and the temporary bookkeeper had made the mistake of entering zero-rated purchase invoices in the VAT column.

The correct repayment of £1 082.23 was then readmitted to HMRC by the appellant’s accountant.

Due to the fact that the potential lost revenue amounted to £20 578 HMRC...