Tax blow for Van Colles

The family of murdered London optometrist Giles Van Colle have lost a tax tribunal decision in respect of a bid to recover VAT overpaid in the wake of the shooting in 2002.

Tax officials claimed that the bid by the murdered man's father - who took over the business - to reclaim the overpaid VAT had been made outside the three-year time limit for such claims. They claimed that even though the circumstances were tragic they were not sufficiently exceptional to provide a reason to bend the rules and pay the money back.

Now that decision by the Commissioners of Revenue and Customs has been backed by a tax tribunal.