Judges halve M&S £433,000 costs against HM Revenue & Customs
Appeal court judges cap attempts by Marks & Spencer to claim " breathtaking" £433,000 costs after court case
Tribunal judges have slashed the amount M&S can claim in costs from the
taxman by half after a marathon case, describing the £433,000 originally sought
as “breathtaking”.
Earlier this year, the retail
giant
won a partial victory in the courts after a marathon dispute with the
taxman, but judges baulked at awarding £433,000 in costs for the Upper Tribunal
hearing.
“Our decision is that HMRC should pay 50% of M&S costs of the appeal to
the
Upper Tribunal,” judges said in court papers.
M&S is already in line for an £18.5m windfall from the taxman after the
group loss relief case.
“We cannot leave the issue of costs without further comment. The total costs
of the appeal to the Upper Tribunal claimed by M&S are just over £433,000,”
judges said.
“This is a breathtaking amount for an appeal in circumstances where the
Tribunal gave full and carefully reasoned decisions on all the issues in
dispute… although very large amounts of money are at stake, there must come a
limit beyond which costs become disproportionate.”
Further reading:
M
&S group relief victory fails to open floodgates