As when tax and football occasionally come together, being Taxation's web editor is a sublime role for the brief moments in which VAT combines with really big sandwiches.

This morning was one of those moments: The Times (which protects its garden of online content with a wall of rusting tin) reported that the snack giant Subway lost a case against the VAT man.

In a decision that will surprise no seasoned tax pro, a tribunal ruled that the company must be subject to sales tax on hot food whenever it toasts its delicious foot-long butties (which are also available as equally lip-smacking six-inchers).

'That’s just VAT,' chuckled my jaded colleagues, former Revenue employees all, upon learning the news. Me, I say it’s a frustrating lack of common sense by HMRC's food patrol.

A cake and a biscuit, say, are clearly not the same* (and the latter comestible is massively superior to the former), while the difference between a cold turkey-and-ham sub (with gherkins, black olives and jalapeño peppers, please) and a warm one is no more than crisped bread. 

Sure, there’s a line that must be made between what's VAT-able and what's not, but must it be drawn inside the toasting ovens of this writer’s favourite fast food chain? It’s a daft place for anything other than my meat-packed butty. (I'll have honey mustard, too, please. And quickly before the prices go up to cover the tax expenses.)

*Yeah, yeah, I know: Jaffa Cakes...

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