Monckton Chambers secures landmark victory in landfill tax judicial review

08 Sep 2016

On 25 July 2016 Mr Justice Nugee dismissed claims for judicial review brought by the Veolia and Viridor group of companies in relation to HMRC’s demands for very substantial payments of landfill tax. The claims were brought on the basis that Revenue and Customs Brief 58/08  dated 22 December 2008 gave rise to a legitimate expectation that such demands would not be made. Other major landfill site operators have similar claims which have been stayed. Mr Justice Nugee accepted the case advanced by Melanie Hall QC, Brendan McGurk and David Gregory on behalf of HMRC that the Brief did not give rise to any material legitimate expectation. He also accepted their argument that the Veolia companies had not been the victim of unequal treatment, relative to their competitors. The detailed judgment contains a detailed summary of the relevant principles in relation to legitimate expectation and unequal treatment and related principles of administrative law.

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