Letter can be valid claim

The taxpayers traded as a vehicle rental and self-drive company and a long-term contract hire company respectively.

Their agent wrote to HMRC on their behalf on 30 March 2009 claiming a repayment of output VAT.
The Revenue insisted the letter did not constitute a claim and the taxpayers appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal said the issue concerned solely the letter not the claim.

The judge said the letter satisfied the conditions of reg 37 of the VAT Regulations for the self-drive firm because it stated the sum claimed (£1.29m) explained how the amount had been calculated and referred to the company’s accounts in support.

The demands of reg 37 were mandatory in the sense they had to be met otherwise the claim would not be a claim for the purposes of VATA 1984 s 80.

The tribunal decided the claim did not need...