Sportech £93m VAT appeal hearing scheduled for November

Sportech’s appeal against a ruling demanding they repay a £93m VAT refund will be heard the week commencing 2 November, the firm announced this morning.

The case is to be heard by the Court of Appeal and is expected to take between one and one-and-a-half days, after which Sportech will learn whether or not September’s decision to force it to repay £93m in alleged VAT overpayments will be upheld.

Sportech was granted the right to appeal last month and a statement issued by the firm this morning said it would continue to update shareholders in due course.

The long-running battle with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) looked to have been concluded in June last year, however HMRC successfully appealed against the decision in the Upper Tier of the Tax Tribunal and Sportech was ordered to repay the sum three months later.

The case stems from alleged overpayments in VAT related to the ‘Spot the Ball’ competition operated by Sportech subsidiary Littlewoods between 1979 and 1996.

Sportech took up the case in 2010 however its claim was initially rejected by the HMRC, and it wasn’t until 2013 that Sportech was successful in its attempts to have the case re-read.