McVitie’s Blissfuls – VAT Outcome
Not a sweet outcome for Mcvities this time with HMRC. Having successfully argued Jaffa cakes should be VAT free some years ago McVities luck ran out in the latest challenge – which though it pains me saying it was a fair outcome for HMRC!
Similar to the infamous Jaffa Cakes case, this too focused on the interpretation of the VATA 1994 Section 30 – which states food should be zero rated unless its “confectionery, not including cakes or biscuits other than biscuits wholly or partly covered with chocolate or some product similar in taste and appearance”.
The Blissfuls case centred on whether the chocolate covered or filled the biscuits – which the tribunal ruled we covered and so subject to VAT.
