It is a statement of fact – it means what it says – whereas the taxpayer has 4 years in which to make a claim for overpaid VAT to be repaid, no such time limit exists in respect reclaiming any overpaid VAT penalties, which may be reclaimed at any date. May I just also advise that unless you are 100% prepared in relation to all the core areas and you have worked the past exam questions that a tiny point of individual detail such as this is a total distraction from the core work you should be concentrating your efforts on in order to achieve a good pass – please make sure you can deal with the core areas!