This section contains regime specific guidance. Further
information on unjust enrichment is contained in
V1-33 VAT Refunds: unjust enrichment, statutory
interest, ex-gratia payments.
When claims for repayment of overpaid tax or duty are made,
the Department is entitled to refuse repayment if the claimant
would be unjustly enriched. Broadly speaking this is where a
claimant would get a windfall profit, because the tax or duty that
they are seeking to recover was effectively paid by the consumer
and the claimant is not planning to pass the refund back to the
consumer. It was introduced by CEMA section 137A, which was
inserted by Finance Act 1995 in relation to all payments made on or
after 1 December 1995.
Before the unjust enrichment provisions were amended by the
Finance Act 1997, a business which accepted that it would be
unjustly enriched would receive a refund of sums overpaid as tax if
it agreed to reimburse those consumers which for practical purposes
had paid the tax. However, the law did not say how that refund
should be made, nor did it provide a sanction where a business
reneged on the agreement.
Note: Consumers or customers?
The regulations refer to consumers, not to customers.
Consumers are the people who have for practical purposes borne the
whole or part of the original amount overpaid by the aircraft
operator.
