High level summary from Grant Thornton of upcoming VAT cases in the UK and European courts.

1. CJEU Hearings Taxpayer Case Ref Brief Summary
09/04/2014 Equoland C-272/13 An Italian case looking into the level of evidence required when exempting goods from
excise duty on the basis that they are intended to be placed under warehousing
arrangements other than customs warehousing. Also considering the collection of
VAT when the reverse charge mechanism has been incorrectly used through a self-
invoicing system.
CJEU A/G’s Opinion Taxpayer Case Ref Brief Summary
10/04/2014 Gemeente's-Hertogenbosch C-92/13 A municipality occupies a building which it had constructed on its own land. It used
the building mostly for public authority activities but also has some taxable and exempt
activities. The issue concerns whether a supply for consideration was made when the
municipality first occupied the building.
Court of Appeal / Session Appellant / Respondent Appeal from Brief Summary
02/04/2014 Marco Trading Co Limited UT The UT held that the import of clothes manufactured in Bangladesh did not qualify for
the reduced rate of customs duty under the Generalised System of Preferences as
imports from certain developing 'beneficiary countries'.
02/04/2014 TNT Post UK Limited High Court The High Court gave TNT permission to apply for judicial review on the issues of
whether the provision of access to the delivery service of the Royal Mail is properly
within the EU VAT exemption for public postal services.
Court Diary – Period Monday 31/03/2014 to Friday 11/04/2014
Number
34/2014

2. 2
Upper Tier Tribunal Appellant / Respondent Appeal from Brief Summary
01-03/04/2014 Taylor Clark Leisure Plc FTT The FTT held that the repayment claim submitted by Taylor Clark, the representative
member of the VAT group, in respect of VAT on income from bingo and gaming
machines of a trading subsidiary was out of time on the basis that the rights to a VAT
refund were passed to a third party on the sale of the shares. Taylor Clark has appealed
the decision.
10-11/04/2014 Isle of Wight Council (and others) FTT The issue at point in this case is whether the provision of off street car parking by a
Local Authority should be subject to VAT or whether it should be treated as a 'non-
business' activity given the Public Body status of the Local Authority.
Following a judgement from the CJEU in respect of the interpretation of ‘significant
distortion of competition’ this case was reheard by the FTT.
The FTT dismissed the Council's appeal on the grounds that there was no doubt that
Local Authorities are in competition with commercial providers of off street parking
and the treatment of Local Authorities as non-taxable persons in relation to such
provision would lead to significant distortion of competition. The Council has
appealed.
11/03/2014 Roger Skinner Limited FTT The FTT held that supplies of certain dog foods fell within the zero-rating provisions
as "biscuits and meal for cats and dogs". HMRC has appealed this decision.