Is VAT debt payable?

The taxpayer claimed that he had paid VAT that he should not have done on account of it being a bankruptcy debt within Insolvency Act 1986 s 382.

HMRC then wrote to him asking for more information. The taxpayer appealed against this letter.

At the tribunal hearing HMRC said that the letter could not described as a decision that was appealable under VATA 1994 s 83. The taxpayer’s appeal was premature and should be struck out.

The tribunal judge looked at the letter and concluded that HMRC had taken it to be a decision of sorts and that it was not unreasonable for the taxpayer to have seen it as such.

As to whether the matter was appealable the judge said that the basis of the taxpayer’s claim was that the debt was a bankruptcy...