Input tax and purchase invoice requirements

Key points

• In the Fount case HMRC said that the invoices contained inadequate information but the tribunal disagreed.
• HMRC could have asked the business for more details rather than allow the appeal to proceed to the tribunal.
• Invoices must comply with reg 14 of the 1995 VAT Regulations.
• It may only take a few extra words for the invoice to be compliant.

VAT tribunal cases on a particular subject can be like the number 37 bus in Manchester: you get none for a long time and then three suddenly arrive together. That has happened recently with First-tier Tribunal (FTT) cases about input tax and one of them – lost by HMRC – continues to cause me more confusion than a difficult sudoku puzzle after two glasses of wine.

As I sit in a darkened room – trying to fathom out why HMRC took Fount Construction Ltd (TC9144) to a...