Littlewoods Retail Ltd and others v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2015] EWCA Civ 515, [2015] All ER (D) 225 (May)
The claimants had been successful in their proceedings to recover in restitution the time value of the overpaid VAT. The defendant Revenue and Customs Commissioners appealed against the judges’ findings on liability and quantum. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the appeal, held that the claimants’ restitutionary claims were excluded by ss 78 and 80 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, which accordingly fell to be disapplied. Further, as the Revenue should not be treated as an involuntary recipient of overpayments, the benefit to the government from the overpayment of tax was correctly measured by the objective use value.
