Optigen v HMCE (VAT and Duties Tribunal and European Court of Justice)

The team successfully represented the two lead claimants, Optigen and Fulcrum, in this major ‘Missing Trade Intra-Community’ (MTIC), or carousel, fraud case.  The decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in favour of the claimants will have major ramifications throughout the European Community, as it is estimated that 1 in every 9 Euros in VAT turned on the outcome. The judgment determined the extent to which innocent traders can be deprived of VAT repayments on the basis that the transactions in question were not genuine commercial transactions.