The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has granted a restaurant its application for hardship related to a VAT penalty of £280,903, which it could not afford to pay
The decision of this case is related to two applications. The first was made by the company, Massala Exotic Limited, on the grounds that it should be permitted to prosecute its appeal without having to pay the VAT in question.
In this case, the company had been assessed for VAT of £280,903 by way of an assessment dated 22 November 2019. It had claimed that it was unable to pay or deposit that VAT with HMRC and had applied for hardship.
This was denied, and accordingly, the company made an application to the tribunal, under Section 84 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA), which states that the tribunal ‘decides that the requirement to pay or deposit the amount determined would cause the appellant to suffer hardship’.
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