You don’t have to be a fraudster to be affected.
Businesses that fall under the investigation of HMRC and are subsequently deemed to be involved in MTIC fraud will be jointly and severally liable for the tax loss even if they innocently participated in a deal chain, if they should have realised that there was a fraud being committed.
In July 2006, the European Court of Justice held in the cases of Axel Kittel & Recolta Recycling SPRL that
“… a taxable person who knew or should have known that, by his purchase, he was taking part in a transaction connected with fraudulent evasion of VAT must, for the purposes of the Sixth Directive, be regarded as a participant in that fraud, irrespective of whether or not he profited by the resale of the goods”
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