Value Added Tax Act 1994

81 Interest given by way of credit and set-off of credits. U.K.

(1) Any interest payable by the Commissioners (whether under an enactment or instrument or otherwise) to a person on a sum due to him under or by virtue of any provision of this Act shall be treated as an amount due by way of credit under section 25(3).

(2) Subsection (1) above shall be disregarded for the purpose of determining a person’s entitlement to interest or the amount of interest to which he is entitled.

(3) Subject to subsection (1) above, in any case where—

(a) an amount is due from the Commissioners to any person under any provision of this Act, and

(b) that person is liable to pay a sum by way of VAT, penalty, interest or surcharge,

the amount referred to in paragraph (a) above shall be set against the sum referred to in paragraph (b) above and, accordingly, to the extent of the set-off, the obligations of the Commissioners and the person concerned shall be discharged.

[F1 (3A) Where—

(a) the Commissioners are liable to pay or repay any amount to any person under this Act,

(b) that amount falls to be paid or repaid in consequence of a mistake previously made about whether or to what extent amounts were payable under this Act to or by that person, and

(c) by reason of that mistake a liability of that person to pay a sum by way of VAT, penalty, interest or surcharge was not assessed, was not enforced or was not satisfied,

any limitation on the time within which the Commissioners are entitled to take steps for recovering that sum shall be disregarded in determining whether that sum is required by subsection (3) above to be set against the amount mentioned in paragraph (a) above.]

[F2 (4A) Subsection (3) above shall not require any such amount as is mentioned in paragraph (a) of that subsection (“the credit”) to be set against any such sum as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of that subsection (“the debit”) in any case where—

(a) an insolvency procedure has been applied to the person entitled to the credit;

(b) the credit became due after that procedure was so applied; and

(c) the liability to pay the debit either arose before that procedure was so applied or (having arisen afterwards) relates to, or to matters occurring in the course of, the carrying on of any business at times before the procedure was so applied.

(4B) Subject to subsection (4C) below, the following are the times when an insolvency procedure is to be taken, for the purposes of this section, to be applied to any person, that is to say—

(a) when a bankruptcy order, winding-up order, adminis-tration order or award of sequestration is made in relation to that person;

(b) when that person is put into administrative receivership;

(c) when that person, being a corporation, passes a resolution for voluntary winding up;

(d) when any voluntary arrangement approved in accordance with Part I or VIII of the Insolvency Act 1986, or Part II or Chapter II of Part VIII of the M1 Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, comes into force in relation to that person;

(e) when a deed of arrangement registered in accordance with the M2 Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914 or Chapter I of Part VIII of that Order of 1989 takes effect in relation to that person;

(f) when that person’s estate becomes vested in any other person as that person’s trustee under a trust deed.

(4C) In this section references, in relation to any person, to the application of an insolvency procedure to that person shall not include—

(a) the making of a bankruptcy order, winding-up order, administration order or award of sequestration at a time when any such arrangement or deed as is mentioned in subsection (4B)(d) to (f) above is in force in relation to that person;

(b) the making of a winding-up order at any of the following times, that is to say—

(i) immediately upon the discharge of an administration order made in relation to that person;

(ii) when that person is being wound up voluntarily;

(iii) when that person is in administrative receivership;

or

(c) the making of an administration order in relation to that person at any time when that person is in administrative receivership.

(4D) For the purposes of this section a person shall be regarded as being in administrative receivership throughout any continuous period for which (disregarding any temporary vacancy in the office of receiver) there is an administrative receiver of that person, and the reference in subsection (4B) above to a person being put into administrative receivership shall be construed accordingly.]

(5) In [F3 this section]—

(a) “administration order” means an administration order under Part II of the M3 Insolvency Act 1986 or an administration order within the meaning of Article 5(1) of the M4 Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989;

(b) “administrative receiver” means an administrative receiver within the meaning of section 251 of that Act of 1986 or Article 5(1) of that Order of 1989; and

(c) “trust deed” has the same meaning as in the M5 Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 81(3A) inserted (retrospective to 18.7.1996 with effect as mentioned in s. 48(2) of the amending Act) by 1997 c. 16, s. 48(1)(2)

F2 S. 81(4A)-(4D) substituted for s. 81(4) (1.5.1995 with effect as mentioned in s. 27(4) of the amending Act) by 1995 c. 4, s. 27(2)

F3 Words in s. 81(5) substituted (1.5.1995 with effect as mentioned in s. 27(4) of the amending Act) by 1995 c. 4, s. 27(3)

Marginal Citations

M1 1986 c. 45.

M2 1914 c. 47.

M3 1986 c. 45.

M4 S.I.1989/2405 (N.I.19).

M5 1985 c. 66.