Court of Appeal dismisses BT’s restitutionary claim for overpaid VAT (British Telecommunications plc v HMRC)

Table of contents

• Background
• The statutory appeal
• The restitutionary claim
• High Court decision
• The Court of Appeal’s decision
• The exclusive remedy issue
• The unjust enrichment issue
• The 9-month claim issue
• Why it matters
• Case details

Article summary

Tax analysis: The Court of Appeal considered an appeal by British Telecommunications plc (BT), and a cross-appeal by HMRC, in relation to a restitutionary claim for overpaid VAT. It rejected and struck out BT’s claim, holding that: (i) the statutory VAT bad debt relief scheme implemented by Parliament from 1 October 1978 was an exhaustive and exclusive remedy for bad debt relief claims and so precluded a common law restitutionary claim and (ii) for both the period prior to, and after, the scheme being implemented, HMRC had not been unjustly enriched.