- Piramal Healthcare UK Limited is a pharmaceutical company based in the UK.
- They import pharmaceutical goods into the UK and have historically paid import VAT on those goods.
- The supplier does not charge for the goods and remains the owner.
- Piramal provides services in relation to the goods and either sends them back to the customer, to third parties for further processing, or to clinics for clinical trials.
- Piramal claimed import VAT as an input tax credit until 2018.
- HMRC issued a decision in 2018 stating that Piramal was not entitled to claim credit for import VAT as the goods were not used for the purposes of their business.
- HMRC made an assessment in 2019 to recover VAT that Piramal had over-claimed.
- HMRC also withheld a repayment of import VAT claimed by Piramal.
- Piramal appeals against all three decisions, arguing that import VAT paid in these circumstances should be available as an input tax credit.
- They also argue that HMRC’s decisions offend the EU principle of equal treatment.
- The legal framework for import VAT and input tax is based on EU law, but the extent to which EU law remains relevant following Brexit is unclear.
Source: bailii.org
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
