This Case was that of a high net worth individual from an Egyptian background. He had come to the UK with a large amount of capital and invested in buying several hotel buildings around the westend area.
His previous accountant had registered him for VAT initially and when it came to submit a return for a VAT refund that was due, the HMRC refuted the claim. Their stance was that the application had been initially registered incorrectly and they were of the opinion that it should not be paid. This case was dragged on for two years, eventually the HMRC paid our client the refund that was due and not being paid by their wrong stance.
This case was taken to the highest most senior levels in the HMRC department. We managed to agree that the HMRC will have to pay interest on the amount that was unfairly held for a period of two years. Furthermore we even charged the HMRC our fees were incorrectly wasting our client’s time and in turn having to hire our services to recover something that should have been a standard process.