R (oao Airline Placement Ltd) v HMRC

In R (oao Airline Placement Ltd) v HMRC [2023] EWHC 1191 (Admin) (19 May 2023) the High Court (HC) dismissed the taxpayer’s application for judicial review ruling that the taxpayer’s 2009 request for non-statutory clearance (NSC) about the VAT treatment of the arrangements and the documents accompanying such NSC request were materially inaccurate and misleading and did not provide full and frank disclosure of the arrangements so the taxpayer had no legitimate expectation that the VAT treatment detailed in the NSC would not be revoked by HMRC.

The underlying tax dispute which relates to the correct VAT treatment of a training programme for cadet pilots will be determined by the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) and was not the subject of this HC decision. The HC considered whether the taxpayer had a legitimate expectation that the VAT treatment outlined in the NSC provided by HMRC in...