Sportech celebrates victory in £97m legal battle with HMRC
LIVERPOOL-based betting company Sportech, which owns The Football Pools, is celebrating victory in its £97m VAT repayment battle with HM Revenue & Customs on its Spot the Ball game.
The Supreme Court has now refused HMRC permission to appeal against an earlier ruling in favour of Sportech.
Sportech, which received £93m from HMRC on June 29 2016, expects to receive the balance of approximately £4m shortly. The Supreme Court also ordered that HMRC pay costs, to be assessed.
Chief executive Ian Penrose said: “We are delighted that after nearly eight years, this case is now over and the Supreme Court has upheld the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal.”
In 2009, Sportech submitted an additional claim that could entitle it to receive compound interest, rather than simple interest, on the amount of overpaid VAT.
Whilst the amount of the claim is not yet known precisely, it could more than double the total sum receivable to date.
This claim is on hold pending the outcome of Littlewoods Retail Ltd and others v HMRC, which is scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court in July 2017. In that case, the Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the High Court’s decision that the taxpayer was entitled to interest on a compound basis on the overpayment of VAT.
