ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Eamon McNicholas, Tax Barrister and Accountant - Missing Trader Fraud / MTIC</TITLE> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META NAME="revisit-after" CONTENT="35 days"> <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="ALL"> <meta NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="McNicholas"> <meta NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Eamon McNicholas, Tax Barrister, outlines Missing Trader Fraud / MTIC"> <meta NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="VAT,tax,taxation,MTIC,missing,trader,fraud,HMRC,investigation,indirect tax,advice,barrister,appeal,tax advisor, company,tax consultant,tax accountant,litigation,tribunal,VAT & duties,court,management,counsel,uk,london,england"> <meta NAME="SUBJECT" CONTENT="Eamon McNicholas, Barrister"> </HEAD> <BODY BACKGROUND="chalk.jpg" TEXT='' Link="#990000" vLink="#990000" alink="#990000"> <H4 ALIGN="LEFT"> <P><IMG ALIGN=LEFT HSPACE=30 SRC="arch4.jpg"alt="Eamon Mc Nicholas, Barrister, Accountant, Tax Specialist"> <FONT face="arial" size="2"> <u>Missing Trader Intra Community (MTIC) Issues and Fraud</u><ALIGN="CENTER"> <br> <br>MTIC, missing trader intra community, fraud in VAT is a general term often given to a reason HMRC give for denying a registered trader their reclaim for input tax incurred in the business. It impacts a wide range of business sectors, often involving small high-value goods like mobile phone chips, computer parts or electronic entertainment equipment, sometimes services too. <br> <br>When it happens MTIC fraud can involve big tax losses through contrived transactions by traders, usually a chain of them, abusing the VAT system. In basic terms they do this by buying and selling goods with a connection somewhere in the chain to another European Union country. One trader then goes missing without paying output VAT due to HMRC. <br> <br>See also HMRC's Notice 726 "Joint and Several Liability for Unpaid VAT" and VAT Act 1994 s.77A for a trader's liability where tax is unpaid in a supply chain and they knew or had reasonable grounds to suspect that VAT was unpaid somewhere in the supply chain. <br> <br>For the legitimate trader problems can arise when they get caught up in HMRC taking an over-tough approach in denying a VAT claim which they say can be traced back to an alleged tainted supply chain and a supposed tax loss. <br> <br>The financial impact on the trader denied their input VAT, essential working capital, can often be crippling. <br> <br>Specialist VAT tax advice is needed for any business which is, or is considering becoming, involved in a sector where there is an MTIC risk. This is to ensure that its business systems and records can be shown and proven to meet the legal test for taking reasonable precautions. <br> <br>For a business which is under investigation by HMRC, or had its input VAT denied, because of alleged MTIC involvement expert advice and if need be representation are vital. It is important that specialist legal advice takes account at any early stage of the possibility of the matter being appealed to the specialist Tax -Tribunal. <br> <br>Eamon being both a VAT specialist and available as a barrister to be directly instructed by a business, if appropriate, is ideally placed to help with defending a trader against MTIC allegations. <br> <br> <br> <A HREF="mailto:eamon@eamonmcnicholas.com"> Email Eamon to discuss missing trader fraud issues</A></P> <br> <P><A HREF="index.html" TARGET="_top">Home</A></P> </BODY> </HTML>