Other cases that caught our eye: 21 October 2022

Interaction of civil and criminal law: R Binfield v HMRC [2022] UKFTT 364 (TC) (6 October 2022) is a good example of the sometimes difficult interface between the civil and criminal aspects of tax disputes. The taxpayer (via an LLP) had entered into a property transaction on which VAT of £1.7m was due. This was not paid over and the taxpayer was arrested and subsequently convicted of taking steps with a view to the fraudulent evasion of tax. At the criminal trial the taxpayer accepted that VAT was due on the transaction.

In this civil hearing however the taxpayer argued that the property transaction had been the transfer of a business as a going concern which would have mean that no VAT was due in the first place. He said that at the criminal trial he had accepted that the transaction was VATable on the advice...