EXCISE DUTIES – appellants seeking restoration of cigarettes seized at Liverpool John Lennon Airport on their return from Spain – goods on balance of probabilities found to have been held for a commercial purpose – review decisions of Customs held to be reasonable – appeals dismissed
MANCHESTER TRIBUNAL CENTRE
(1) STEPHEN NATTRASS
(2) MARGARET MORTON Appellant
- and -
THE COMMISSIONERS OF CUSTOMS AND EXCISE Respondents
Tribunal: Mr M S Johnson (Chairman)
Mrs R Dean
Sitting in public in Manchester on the 23rd July 2003
Miss L Elliott, of John Budd & Co, Solicitors, for the Appellants
Mr A Vinson, counsel instructed by the Solicitor for the Customs and Excise, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2003
DECISION
The basis of the two appeals and the issue before the tribunal
• The quantities of goods were greater than the indicative quantities specified in the Schedule to the Excise Duties (Personal Reliefs) Order 1992 SI 1992/3155 ("the Order"), which was in force at the time;
• The travellers had not disclosed previous trips abroad via Liverpool Airport;
• They had not disclosed that such previous travel had been with the cut-price airline "Easyjet";
• Their two stories were inconsistent with each other as to who had paid for the flight on this occasion;
• Their declared income was inconsistent with the expenditure involved.
Evidence before the tribunal
• Previous trips abroad made by the appellants
• The trip to Spain 3 weeks previously
• Level of expenditure on the goods having regard to the stated resources of the appellants respectively
• The appellants' rate of consumption of cigarettes
• Testimonials
Miss Logan's evidence
o In the case of Mr Nattrass:
? The paucity of Mr Nattrass's stated income;
- Her doubt over his stated consumption rate of 80 cigarettes per day;
- The unclear attribution of the lump sums of money withdrawn by Mr Nattrass;
- The unclear fate of the previous large quantity of cigarettes imported;
- Uncertainty as to the alleged Spanish strike;
- His lack of credibility.
o In the case of Mrs Morton:
- The unclear attribution of the money received by her as interim damages;
- Her lack of funds to pay for her smoking habit;
- Doubt over her rate of consumption of cigarettes;
- Her trips abroad, each affording opportunities to purchase cigarettes.
Submissions of the parties' representatives
Decision of the tribunal with reasons
- The commercial status of the holder of the products and his reasons for holding them;
- The place where the products are located or, if appropriate, the mode of transport used;
- Any document relating to the products;
- The nature of the products;
- The quantity of the products.
- The quantities of cigarettes transported on this occasion were out of all proportion to the means of the appellants respectively unless commerciality is presumed;
- What we now know about the level and source of the funds enjoyed by Mr Nattrass and Mrs Morton respectively is indicative that importations by them were not exclusively for their own use;
- Neither appellant told Customs the truth about their financial circumstances when interviewed;
- The rate of consumption of cigarettes by the appellants respectively makes it inherently improbable that all the cigarettes imported can have been for their own use.
M S Johnson
Chairman
Release Date:
MAN/03/8004
MAN/03/8005