Joy as six-year fight with taxman over £36,000 owed to Northampton working men's club is over

More than six years of legal wrangling over money a Northampton working men's club claims it is owed by the taxman has finally ended with success for its former bookkeeper.

Barry Slasberg has been arguing with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) over the £36,000 he is sure Kingsley Park Working Men's Club is entitled to.

The 72-year-old grandfather, of Fairway, Kingsley, who has Parkinson's, believes a court ruling against HMRC and payout to the lead claimant means the club should also get its share.

"I'm one man going up against the taxman without any help from organisations who are helping the other businesses involved so I never thought it would get to this," he said.

"But I'm totally vindicated and I'm over the moon - my job is done and now it's up to the organisations to get the money back."

In 2006, Mecca Bingo owners Rank Group led a legal suit against HMRC arguing fixed odds betting terminals (commonly known as fruit machines) should not have been subject to VAT - and won.

HMRC paid out to 3,000 businesses in 2011 and Kingsley Park WMC received around £34,000 in rebate, even though the Government appealed the overall decision.

Three years later, HMRC argued the Court of Appeal had ruled in its favour and all the clubs who had received rebates were ordered to pay them back plus interest.

But Mr Slasberg claimed this decision was wrong as the court did not back HMRC, instead staying the decision until a tribunal had heard the case, which actually ruled in the club's favour.

HMRC then appealed that decision to the Upper Tribunal, which was heard in January and a decision was made on April 15, dismissing the appeals.

Furthermore, Rank posted in its April trading statement that it had received £25.2 million from HMRC in relation to the VAT claim because of the effect of the coronavirus lockdown.

Mr Slasberg sees this as a victory for his campaign and expects HMRC to do the same with the thousands of other businesses affected.

"I hope they haven't got the nerve to deny it as Rank has had their money so everyone else has to be treated equally, according to their own mandate," he said.

An HMRC spokesperson said: “HMRC is considering carefully the Upper Tribunal decisions before deciding on next steps.”