'The Tax Collectors' by van Reymerswaele, via wikimedia commons
The Tax Collectors by Marinus van Reymerswaele

Updated: The School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, Pump Court Tax Chambers and One Essex Court are delighted to announce that a very successful conference on

Restitution of Overpaid Tax

took place in Merton College Oxford on the weekend of Friday 9 and Saturday 10 July 2010.

In Woolwich Equitable Building Society v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1993] AC 70 (HL), the House of Lords held that taxes unlawfully exacted by the Revenue are recoverable by the taxpayer as of right. The recent decisions of the Court of Appeal in Test Claimants In the Franked Investment Group Litigation v Commissioners of the Inland Revenue [2010] EWCA Civ 103 (23 February 2010) and FJ Chalke Ltd v Revenue & Customs [2010] EWCA Civ 313 (25 March 2010), bookended by decisions of the High Court in Test Claimants In the Thin Cap Group Litigation v Revenue & Customs [2009] EWHC 2908 (Ch) (17 November 2009) and Littlewoods Retail Ltd v Revenue & Customs [2010] EWHC 1071 (Ch) (19 May 2010), demonstrate that many fundamental elements of the Woolwich principle still remain to be resolved.

Eminent contributors explored the general issue of restitution of overpaid taxes from various perspectives – for example, the tax background, various private law claims, alternative public law approaches, defences, and remedies – and in various jurisdictions (such as Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand, as well as the UK).

Details: Programme | Contributors | Abstracts | Venue | Bookings | Contact | Updates

Please contact us if you are interested in acquiring copies of the conference papers.