M&S wins VAT teacake battle
M&S wins teacake battle against the taxman
Marks & Spencer has won a long-running battle to be fully repaid VAT
mistakenly charged against its teacakes.
The taxman had earlier agreed that it had wrongly classed M&S’ teacakes
as biscuits between 1973 and 1994, during which time the retailer overpaid £3.5m
in tax.
However HM Revenue & Customs would not fully refund M&S.
Law lords upheld an earlier European Court of Justice ruling that M&S was
entitled a full refund.
HMRC had refused to pay back the tax as customers had footed the bill, and M
&S would be ‘unjustly enriched’, according to the BBC.
Further reading:
Profile: Ian Dyson, group FD of
Marks & Spencer
M&S victorious in £3.5m VAT
bunfight
