VGROUPS05000 - VAT Groups - Protection of the Revenue
Background
How will we operate the 90-day rule?
The meaning of “for the protection of the revenue”
When will protection of the revenue powers be used?
What will happen when a company is to be removed from a group?
Weighing the likely revenue loss against the administrative cost of using our powers
Background
The VAT grouping facility was introduced with the tax in 1973 and has always contained powers to refuse certain applications for grouping, for the protection of the revenue.
How will we operate the 90-day rule?
If you have properly completed your application forms, we will aim to respond to you within 15 working days of their receipt with either:
- a new VAT registration number for the group; or
- notify you that your application to amend the composition of your group has been processed.
We will also aim to inform you within 15 working days of receipt if further enquiries are to be made. Our letter will include confirmation of the date of receipt of the application.
If we consider that further enquiries do need to be made into your application we shall endeavour to complete those enquiries as soon as possible after receiving your application. We will notify you of the outcome of our enquiries as soon as they are completed. If we have not written to you to let you know the outcome by the end of the 90 day period, we will not be able to refuse the application.
If we do refuse an application it will effectively be set aside and it will be deemed never to have been allowed or effected. This may mean that:
- you will have to notify a liability to register for VAT in accordance with the normal rules; or
- we will reinstate the VAT registration number that you held when you made the application for grouping with effect from the date on which it was cancelled for you to join the group; and
- the representative member of the VAT group will have to submit a voluntary disclosure to reverse the VAT accounting done while the change had provisional effect.
It is therefore in your interest to provide information quickly in respect of your provisional grouping, if asked to do so. If you think, after reading this, that your application is one which we may refuse, you must draw our attention to the relevant facts and issues at the time of your application.
The meaning of “for the protection of the revenue”
The relevant legislation is set out in sections 43B(5) and 43C(2) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994. The meaning of “protection of the revenue” in this context was discussed in the Tribunal case of National Westminster Bank PLC v The Commissioners of Customs & Excise (LON/97/124).
Paragraph 72 of the decision says that:
“the protection in question under section 43(5A) may be against any loss of revenue which is not de minimis whether or not it follows from the normal operation of grouping. It certainly covers an artificial avoidance scheme but it also covers a straight forward case which would not be characterised as avoidance or abusive”.
When will protection of the revenue powers be used?
We will not normally use our revenue protection powers when we consider that the revenue loss follows from the normal operation of grouping. By this, we mean the “revenue loss” which occurs because VAT is eliminated on the value added by a group member, when a supply takes place between two group members. This includes the loss arising from supplies between group members being disregarded, where the recipient of the supply would not normally be able to deduct that VAT because it makes exempt supplies. We would normally consider such revenue loss, the same as if the VAT group members were all one company, to be a natural result of grouping.
Where we consider that there seems likely to be a revenue loss that goes beyond the accepted result of grouping, we will feel entitled to use our revenue protection powers. When deciding in any particular case whether to refuse a VAT group application, or to expel a company from a VAT group, we will bear in mind the decision in National Westminster Bank. Paragraph 74 of that decision says:
“the phrase ‘necessary for the protection of the revenue’ must be considered as a totality and involves a balancing exercise in which the Commissioners must weigh the effect on the Appellant of refusal of grouping against the loss of revenue likely to result from grouping”.
What will happen when a company is to be removed from a group?
When a revenue concern is identified relating to an existing group member, we will write advising you that enquiries are being made and that the company may be removed from the group for the protection of the revenue. It is in your interests to provide information quickly when asked to do so. Any failure to provide information may mean that factors are not taken into account which may affect the outcome of our considerations. We will notify you of the outcome of our enquiries as soon as they are completed.
When a decision is made to remove a company from a group we will give written notice specifying the date from which the company is to be removed. This date cannot be before the date when the notice is given. We will normally provide sufficient notice to allow you time to reorganise your affairs but in some circumstances we may need to take prompt action.
Weighing the likely revenue loss against the administrative cost of using our powers
When considering whether or not to use our revenue protection powers, we will aim to follow this approach. If we have concerns that the revenue loss does go beyond the accepted consequence of VAT grouping, we will ask for relevant information about the administrative savings that grouping brings in the particular circumstances, and an estimate of the revenue impact of grouping. We will normally ask you to comment on the impact, on your business, of any refusal or removal on our part. For example, you may incur extra costs in having to submit an extra VAT Return, or in having to account for VAT on supplies between group members. The extent of these costs will depend on how your accounting systems are set up.
We will weigh any likely abnormal revenue loss against the administrative cost to you of our refusal or removal. When that revenue cost significantly outweighs the administrative cost we will consider invoking our powers.