Cash back payments from manufacturers

Information sheet 03/14 details HMRC’s new policy concerning manufacturer cash back payments to customers in cases where the customer has complained of a fault in the goods or services. This is applicable from 1 April 2014 (or all of the return period which covers that date) under a new Regulation 38ZA.

As it is a re-interpretation of existing case law there are also provisions for correcting historical errors arising from the wrong treatment. The change arises from the outcome of the Elida Gibbs case (C-317/94), though that was decided more than 15 years ago by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) so it is remarkable that the change has taken this long to be made.