An interesting case was decided in the High Court that, whilst not directly relevant to payroll professionals it has an interesting twist which will be of interest to the profession.
In 2009 Biffa Waste Services Biffa asked HMRC for clarification from HMRC as to whether the “regulation layer” at landfill sites would be treated as a 'taxable disposal' under new regulations. HMRC confirmed in writing that it was non-taxable.
HMRC revoked this in May 2012, thereby making the regulation layer subject to landfill tax
HMRC then went on to assess Biffa for the tax that they said had been accumulating since 2009.
Additionally, HMRC opined that the 2009 ruling did not apply to any other sites operated by Biffa.
In R (Biffa Waste Services Limited) v the Commissioners for HMRC [2016] EWHC 1444 (Admin), Biffa challenged HMRC's:
revocation of its previous ruling on Biffa's tax treatment and its retrospective imposition of tax on the basis of a new tax regime.The High Court decided that a clear and unambiguous statement by a public authority such as HMRC on the interpretation of a new regulation may be construed as general policy guidance capable of establishing a legitimate expectation. The Court further ruled that such general guidance may be relied on not only in respect of the specific situation the ruling relates to, but also in respect of other materially identical situations.
Learn Payroll Comment
So, what is the relevance of this case to the payroll professional?
Quite simply that a ruling by a public body must be considered applicable as long as there is no material non-disclosure
There was also the issue of whether the ruling only applied to the one site or all of the other sites. Here the High Court found that there was no material difference between the operation at the specific site compared with all of the other sites and hence rejected HMRC’s argument.
