Value Added Tax Act 1994

80 Recovery of overpaid VAT. U.K.

(1) Where a person has (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) paid an amount to the Commissioners by way of VAT which was not VAT due to them, they shall be liable to repay the amount to him.

(2) The Commissioners shall only be liable to repay an amount under this section on a claim being made for the purpose.

(3) It shall be a defence, in relation to a claim under this section, that repayment of an amount would unjustly enrich the claimant.

[F1 (3A) Subsection (3B) below applies for the purposes of subsection (3) above where—

(a) there is an amount paid by way of VAT which (apart from subsection (3) above) would fall to be repaid under this section to any person (“the taxpayer”), and

(b) the whole or a part of the cost of the payment of that amount to the Commissioners has, for practical purposes, been borne by a person other than the taxpayer.

(3B) Where, in a case to which this subsection applies, loss or damage has been or may be incurred by the taxpayer as a result of mistaken assumptions made in his case about the operation of any VAT provisions, that loss or damage shall be disregarded, except to the extent of the quantified amount, in the making of any determination—

(a) of whether or to what extent the repayment of an amount to the taxpayer would enrich him; or

(b) of whether or to what extent any enrichment of the taxpayer would be unjust.

(3C) In subsection (3B) above—

• “the quantified amount” means the amount (if any) which is shown by the taxpayer to constitute the amount that would appropriately compensate him for loss or damage shown by him to have resulted, for any business carried on by him, from the making of the mistaken assumptions; and

• “VAT provisions” means the provisions of—

  (a)

  any enactment, subordinate legislation or Community legislation (whether or not still in force) which relates to VAT or to any matter connected with VAT; or

  (b)

  any notice published by the Commissioners under or for the purposes of any such enactment or subordinate legislation.]

[F2 (4) The Commissioners shall not be liable, on a claim made under this section, to repay any amount paid to them more than three years before the making of the claim.]

[F3 (4A) Where—

(a) any amount has been paid, at any time on or after 18th July 1996, to any person by way of a repayment under this section, and

(b) the amount paid exceeded the Commissioners’ repayment liability to that person at that time,

the Commissioners may, to the best of their judgement, assess the excess paid to that person and notify it to him.

(4B) For the purposes of subsection (4A) above the Commissioners’ repayment liability to a person at any time is—

(a) in a case where any provision affecting the amount which they were liable to repay to that person at that time is subsequently deemed to have been in force at that time, the amount which the Commissioners are to be treated, in accordance with that provision, as having been liable at that time to repay to that person; and

(b) in any other case, the amount which they were liable at that time to repay to that person.

(4C) Subsections (2) to (8) of section 78A apply in the case of an assessment under subsection (4A) above as they apply in the case of an assessment under section 78A(1).]

(6) A claim under this section shall be made in such form and manner and shall be supported by such documentary evidence as the Commissioners prescribe by regulations; and regulations under this subsection may make different provision for different cases.

(7) Except as provided by this section, the Commissioners shall not be liable to repay an amount paid to them by way of VAT by virtue of the fact that it was not VAT due to them.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 80(3A)-(3C) inserted (19.3.1997) 1997 c. 16, s. 46(1)(4)

F2 S. 80(4) substituted for s. 80(4)(5) (retrospective to 18.7.1996) by 1997 c. 16, s. 47(1)(2)-(5)

F3 S. 80(4A)-(4C) inserted (retrospective to 4.12.1996) 1997 c. 16, s. 47(6)(9)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 80(4) excluded (19.3.1997) by 1997 c. 16, s. 47(4)

S. 80(4) extended (19.3.1997) by 1997 c. 16, s. 47(12)