Flimsy basis

The claimant Corkteck was a wholesale supplier of beverages. In 2005 another company Sintra approached Corkteck with a view to buying soft drinks which Corkteck would deliver to Sintra’s customer in Poland.
Corkteck called HMRC’s national advice service for advice on the VAT position.

The customer was VAT registered in Poland but Sintra was not.
The claimant said that HMRC advised that it could use the VAT number of the Polish customer to zero rate the sale.

HMRC’s note of the conversation differed however to the effect that the sale could be zero rated if the conditions in section 3 of notice 725 were met.

This provides that a supply of goods to a VAT-registered customer in another EU state could be made if the supplier obtained and showed on his VAT invoice his customer’s VAT registration number.

Corkteck proceeded to...