Psst, don't tell anyone, but ...

HMRC SOMETIMES DO some strange things but I think they ought to stop short of advocating fraud. Yet that seems to me what they are doing in the VAT (Input Tax) (Reimbursement by Employers of Employee's Business Use of Road Fuel) Regulations 2005.
These regulations were issued in response to the judgment of the European Court of Justice in EC Commission v UK (Case C-33/03) [2005] STC 582. This held that:

'by granting taxable persons the right to deduct VAT on certain supplies of fuel to non-taxable persons contrary to the provisions of Articles 17(2)(a) and 18(1)(a) of the Sixth Directive the UK has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive.'

The European Court pointed out that:

'the provisions of Article 17 specify the conditions giving rise to the right to deduct and the extent of the right to deduct. They do not leave the...