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Verifying a claim

We are entitled, when dealing with claims, to satisfy ourselves that the amount claimed is accurate and we are entitled to refuse to make a payment against the claim until we are satisfied.

For claims to output tax, the claimant must satisfy us that he has made the over-declaration of output tax that he is claiming. Section 80(1) provides that HMRC will be liable to credit an amount to a claimant where he:

‘…has accounted to the Commissioners for VAT � and has brought into account as output tax an amount that was not output tax due …� [emphasis added]

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp law provides that we shall be liable where a claimant has brought an amount into account, not where it appears to him or to HMRC that he might have wrongly brought an amount into account as output tax. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp reference to ‘an amountâ€� also requires that the amount is exact, specific and accurate.

Similarly for late claims to input tax, regulation 29(2) of the VAT Regulations 1995 specifies the evidence that a person is required to hold in order to support a claim for input tax and a claimant must satisfy us that he has that evidence.

Burden and standard of proof in a claim

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp claimant must prove that a claim has merit: HMRC does not have to prove that it has none.

Once the claimant has proved to the civil standard of proof (on a balance of probabilities) that the claim is good, the burden shifts to HMRC if we want to rebut the claim. In reality, once a claimant has proved his claim, we will rarely argue.

If case law support is needed, see VRM9200.