VAT

MIKE THEXTON MA, FCA, CTA examines the proposals and changes relating to VAT contained in the Budget.

ALL THE VAT content of the first Finance Bill 2005 was dropped for the rapid passage of the Finance (No 2) Bill on 6 April. However, some of the measures have already been implemented by statutory instrument, but those which were in the original Bill will be delayed (or possibly lost altogether, depending on the election). The references given below are to the original Bill.

JOLYON MAUGHAM, barrister at 11 New Square, sets out the principles governing hardship applications in the VAT tribunal.

OF THE MANY curiosities with which an adviser must wrestle in litigating an assessment to VAT, perhaps the oddest is the statutory requirement that the appellant stump up the disputed sum as the price of pursuing its appeal, unless it can show that to do so would cause it 'hardship'.

LINDA LEACH and MARC WELBY examine the effects of European VAT law when parking your car.

IF YOU THOUGHT that parking your car was simple, bring VAT into consideration and it starts to become a taxing activity. The case of the Isle of Wight Council (18557) has taken four years to come before the VAT tribunal, a further six months to get to the High Court, and is now due to go back to the tribunal.

JOHN H BARNES considers how a dispute over the VAT treatment of vaccines and administered drugs led to the House of Lords.

VAT Registration

A Knotty Problem

PHILIP and SARAH McNEILL warn of the pitfalls when registering for VAT.

Two cases on VAT avoidance schemes: Blackqueen Limited (17680); and The University of Huddersfield Higher Education Corporation (17854).
Dodgy motor scheme?
A case of some notoriety at the VAT Tribunal, made available last summer, concerned a convoluted tax avoidance scheme entered into by a group of companies within the motor trade. The purpose of this scheme was to enable the group to obtain full input tax credit for VAT purposes on purchases of vehicles, but to account for output tax only on the profit margin.