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Roseline Logistics v HMRC

This is a case about where the liability to pay VAT on imports lies. The technical issues which arise are likely to be of interest to only a few specialists but the broader issues of EU law will be of wider significance. VAT is payable on imports, but under postponed accounting payment can be delayed until submission of the importer’s VAT return when, for fully taxable traders, the import VAT can be set off against the input tax on the same goods. What happened here is that the logistics company which actually carried out the importation did not follow correct procedures and used postponed accounting even though the company on whose behalf it was acting did not have the authority to apply postponed accounting ― it had been deregistered from VAT.

Where a party participated in, or is involved in, a breach of a customs obligation and knew, or ought reasonably to have known, of the breach it is jointly and severally liable for the VAT. As the company whose goods