Burden of Proof in Time Limits: Nottingham Forest Football Club Ltd v HMRC

• HMRC assessed Nottingham Forest Football Club Ltd for VAT of £345,561 in April 2019
• NFFC appealed the assessment to the First-tier Tribunal
• The issue was whether the assessment was made within the time limit in VATA 1994
• HMRC visited NFFC in April 2018 to examine accounting systems
• NFFC argued that HMRC had knowledge to raise assessment in April 2018
• HMRC argued they had knowledge in May 2018
• FTT could not determine when the time limit started due to lack of evidence
• NFFC failed to provide witness evidence, burden of proof was on them
• NFFC appealed to the Upper Tribunal on three grounds
• UT held that FTT applied the correct test but had insufficient evidence

Source: rpc.co.uk

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.

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