Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) Fraud, sometimes known as ‘carousel’ fraud, continues to generate vast profits for criminals at the expense of the UK tax payer. However, being intra-community, these frauds are not merely a domestic problem; MTIC frauds are causing substantial losses in most other member states. In an article published in Legal Week last year, I posed the question: will the carousel ever stop turning? We now have two more important decisions in VAT cases, one from Europe, the other from the High Court; with the result that, a year on, the answer to my question appears to be emerging.
The VAT system
