15/05/09: M&R Tax Advisers Victory in Excise Movement Guarantee Case

M&R Tax Advisers have recently acted on behalf of a haulage company in relation to the rejection by HMRC of its application for a movement guarantee. A movement guarantee is a financial bond which HMRC require a party to the movement of duty suspended excise goods such as alcohol – being either the owner of the goods, or the excise bonded warehouse, or the haulier - to provide. The movement guarantee is intended to safeguard the revenue at risk from alleged fraud within the duty suspended excise regime by satisfactorily covering any potential liability to excise duty in individual movements of goods.  

In acting for our client, we addressed each of the detailed grounds upon which HMRC relied in rejecting our client’s application and requested that HMRC conduct an independent formal Departmental review of the decision. HMRC have been persuaded by M&R Tax Advisers’ arguments and the decision to reject our client’s movement guarantee application has now been withdrawn. While the rules relating to the review of excise matters require that the application has to be reconsidered by HMRC, we anticipate that our client’s application will now be approved and the movement guarantee granted. 

Please contact us if you consider that we can be of assistance to you in any issue arising with HMRC.