Natasha Barnes, leading Paul Reynolds, appeared in a multi-million-pound test case concerning the lawfulness of the ‘fall back’ provisions, relating to cross-border trade.

The Court of Appeal heard the appeal over two days in July 2021 and gave judgment in October 2021. In the course of the decision, the Court complimented Natasha’s ‘outstandingly able’ submissions and agreed with HMRC’s interpretation of EU law. The Court went on to conclude that a conforming construction could not be applied to the UK legislation and that the Value Added Tax Act 1994 did not allow for fall-back assessments in respect of goods traded in duty suspense.