£81.5m tax rebate for Virgin Media
June 7, 2011
Virgin Media is celebrating an £81.5 million (€91.4m) VAT refund from HM Revenue & Customs. The refund covers an eight-year period between 2003 and 2011 on an undisclosed part of the Virgin business.
It has also agreed to pay a lower-than-expected £23.6 million in VAT as a result of a separate settlement with HMRC, ending the threat of a possible court case.
Virgin had previously warned in its accounts that it faced a possible charge of up to £74.6 million after tax authorities “challenged our VAT treatment” on some revenues. The media group did not set aside cash for that claim because it said at the time “we do not deem them to be probable of resulting in a liability”.