VAT operates with a system of inputs and outputs to bring down the burden of purchase tax. VAT is a tax on a retailer’s turnover, which purchase tax was not. In a concluded contract the question of whether a sum includes VAT is a matter of construction of the agreement.
Miss Hazel Williamson QC said: ‘There is a policy described as ‘fiscal neutrality’ along the line of supply. As long as a party is making taxable supplies it can set off the tax it pays on any input into its business against the tax which it charges on any output. It can either pay the difference to, or reclaim the difference from, Customs and Excise. The only person who eventually gets fixed without any potential set off is the end consumer who is not making taxable supplies. This can be a party not making supplies at all or a party making exempt supplies, or, complicatedly, partially exempt supplies, a situation which applies in the areas of financial services, banking and the insurance industries. To anyone making taxable supplies, the imposition of VAT is irrelevant; to anyone not doing so, it is an expense such that the taking of supplies under a VATable transaction creates additional cost and makes the supply consequently more expensive.’
Judges:
Miss Hazel Williamson QC
Citations:
[1999] STC 141, (1997) 77 PandCR D34, [1999] BTC 5057, [1999] BVC 78
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Debenhams Retail Plc and Another v Sun Alliance and London Assurance Company Ltd CA 20-Jul-2005
The landlord appealed against a decision that VAT was not to be included when calculating a rent based upon the turnover in the premises, when it had been expressed to include purchase taxes.
Held: The appeal succeeded: ‘it would be wrong to . .
Cited – Mason v Boscawen ChD 18-Dec-2008
The landlord had opted to charge VAT on part of the rent. The tenant fell into arrears and now challenged a notice to quit which included the VAT. The court was asked what constituted ‘rent’ for the purposes of a demand for rent founding a notice to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
VAT
Updated: 01 July 2022; Ref: scu.228927