Federation Accountant Lawrence Shearer has already assisted a substantial number of clubs in securing the Linneweber 1 case and will naturally be assisting further in respect to this recent announcement.

Clubs wishing to seek his assistance are invited to contact him to engage his services.

Lawrence Shearer, Chartered Accountant, can be contacted on 028 9030 9550.

Yesterday, at last, the First Tier Tribunal published its judgement in relation to reclaims on VAT on Gaming Machines for the period 2005-2013. As with the Upper Tier Tribunal ruling on pre 2005 claims heard last year, the judge held that the VAT should not have been charged and claims stood behind this case, commonly known as Linnewebber 2, should be paid.

This will be welcome news to the industry that has suffered so badly from the pandemic. However it must be noted that, HMRC have nearly two months to appeal, so the matter is not yet concluded. If they do appeal and again lose there will then be a need to establish a process for payments to be made. Given our experience with pre-2005 claims this is not likely to be expedited. However, our pressure on Government has secured a meeting with HMRC at which we can again express the unacceptability of their repayment delays.