Online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay could find themselves held liable for VAT fraud committed by non-compliant sellers in some circumstances, as a result of new measures outlined in the Budget designed to crack down on VAT evasion by overseas online sellers, which the Treasury estimates is costing between £1bn and £1.5bn a year in lost tax revenues

Around 2,000 small businesses will benefit from the uprating of the VAT registration and deregistration thresholds announced in the Budget, which have been increased in line with inflation

Vodafone has failed in an attempt to amend a £4.1m VAT refund claim by substituting a different reason for claiming, with an Upper Tribunal (UT) agreeing with HMRC that the telecom group was trying to replace one claim with another after the expiry of the statutory time limits

Graham Elliott, VAT expert, considers the impact of transfer pricing issues in Temple Finance (TC04840) for separately registered companies, business classification dispute in Wakefield College case and updated MOSS guidance

The Supreme Court has ruled that catalogue company Shop Direct Group (SDG) must pay corporation tax on a £125m VAT repayment relating to overpayments made over many years by companies in the Littlewoods corporate group which no longer trade, confirming earlier rulings handed down by the First Tier Tribunal, Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal, reports Pat Sweet

The European Commission has announced plans to review the future development of VAT across the EU 28 member states in light of continuing levels of poor compliance and criticisms of unnecessary red tape to meet current VAT compliance requirements

Graham Elliott, VAT expert, considers a string of cases with ramifications for UK businesses from self-accounting for VAT where UK companies import services from overseas branches post Skandia, to loss for taxpayer in Brennan over reclaiming VAT under the DIY housebuilders' scheme  and VAT supply and non-refundable airline tickets

Graham Elliott, VAT expert, considers the fallout from the Adecco case, which contradicted the Reed Employment ruling and raises issues for employment agencies and intermediaries, plus a flurry of education cases clarify VAT treatment and caravans given full HMRC guidance

The latest First Tier Tribunal ruling on the Adecco case concerning payment of temp workers flies in the face of the earlier Reed Employment decision, raising the likelihood of a certain appeal to settle the matter, says Graham Elliott, principal at City & Cambridge Consultancy