Tax cases

No interim payment

The taxpayer had applied for judicial review challenging Customs' decision that mobile telephones supplied by it did not meet the conditions for zero rating. Customs had assessed the taxpayer to tax and offset some against input tax due to the taxpayer. The judge referred two questions to the European Court of Justice in order to obtain guidance as to the scope of the conditions for zero rating but a decision was unlikely to be received until 2006. The taxpayer therefore requested interim relief of 50% of the total amount set off by Customs as well as provision for legal costs. The judge refused.
In the Court of Appeal the judge said that the taxpayer was not entitled to an interim payment under CPR 25 because the conditions were not satisfied. Furthermore the court did not have the power to grant...