Value Added Tax Act 1994 Schedule 11 paragraph 5

Recovery of VAT, etc.

Paragraph 5 of Schedule 11 sets out how HMRC can recover VAT that is due, and establishes that anyone who issues an invoice showing VAT is liable to pay that VAT to the Crown, even if the supply never took place or the person is not VAT-registered.

• VAT owed by any person is recoverable as a debt due to the Crown
• If an invoice shows VAT on a supply, the invoice issuer is liable to pay that VAT amount to HMRC — or, where VAT is not shown separately, the proportion of the total that represents VAT
• This liability applies regardless of whether the invoice is a proper VAT invoice, whether the supply actually took place, whether VAT was genuinely chargeable, or whether the person who issued the invoice is a taxable person
• Any amount recovered is treated as VAT where it is indeed VAT, and otherwise as a debt due to the Crown