DMBM530050 - Introduction to VAT: Recovery of refund of VAT or statutory interest
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Assessments to recover refunds of VAT or statutory interest wrongly paid or credited to a business are made under s.73 (2), s.78A or s.80 (4A), of the VAT Act 1994.
For more details see the guidance on recovery assessments in V1-35 Assessments and Error Correction.
The recovery provisions are:
| Provision | Recovery power |
| S.73 (2) | S.73 (9) “Where an amount has been assessed and notified to any person under subsection (1), (2), (3), (7), (7A) or (7B) above it shall, subject to the provisions of this Act as to appeals, be deemed to be an amount of VAT due from him and may be recovered accordingly, unless, or to the extent that, the assessment has subsequently been withdrawn or reduced.” |
| S.78A | S.78A (3) as inserted by s.45 (1) of the Finance Act 1997 “Where an amount has been assessed and notified to any person under subsection (1) above, that amount shall be deemed (subject to the provisions of this Act as to appeals) to be an amount of VAT due from him and may be recovered accordingly.” |
| S.80 (4A) | S.80 (4C) as inserted by s.47 (6) of the Finance Act 1997 “Subsections (2) to (8) of section 78A apply in the case of an assessment under Section 78A (1). |
Initially, refer the case to Banking Revenue Recovery. You can identify Banking Revenue Recovery cases on VISION by review code 350. They will
- request repayment of the money and
- issue a letter of assessment under the relevant provision if the money is not repaid. The date of the letter is the date the amount due to the Crown becomes a debt. Include a copy of this letter when referring the debt to the EIS for action.
- place the liability on the customer’s VAT account, and
- refer the debt to the relevant debt management unit (DMU) for action as appropriate.