British Telecommunications PLC (claimant/appellant) v HM Revenue & Customs (defendant/respondent)
Wednesday 1 – Friday 3 November 2023
By appellant’s notice filed on 12 July 2021, the Claimant/Appellant, BT, appeal the order of Miles J dated 28 April 2021, whereby he ordered that the Defendant’s application in respect of the Claimant’s claims for the period 1 October 1978 to 31 March 1989 be allowed and dismissed the claims.
BT’s claim was a mistake-based restitutionary claim. It claimed for the reimbursement of overpaid tax when, by mistake, it did not recover £65.2m of VAT accounted for on unpaid phone bills. It is alleged that BT’s mistake originated from the failure of the UK to properly implement directly effective EU law rights under the Sixth Directive Art. 11 C(1), which entitled BT to reclaim the VAT where the domestic legislation, regulations or administrative rules precluded such claims. Miles J struck out and gave summary judgment in relation to the claim in respect of the mistake.
View hearing:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3