Escape

A morning spent in a deep dive through the inner workings of the HMRC web site.

Some things I learned today... in the UK we have four VAT treatments: the 20 per cent rate, the 5 per cent reduced rate, a zero-rate and exemption. The strangest quirk is probably the decision to zero-rate children’s clothes made of goats’ skin, unless it came from Tibetan goats. Another notable anomaly is the zero-rating for gingerbread men for VAT purposes if they had chocolate eyes. But if the gingerbread was covered with more chocolate, including, say, chocolate trousers, it would be standard rated.

Apparently, there have been several disputes with companies keen on favourable VAT treatment. The most famous was a 1991 dispute over Jaffa cakes. Jaffa maker McVitie’s successfully defended its classification as tax-free cakes by arguing that Jaffas went hard when stale like a cake, while biscuits, which are taxable, go soft. Jaffa Cakes therefore are tax free,
not that us consumers would notice.

After all that I needed to escape and knocked out 36 miles in sunny but blustery conditions.

I was planning to do some work this evening but Dad had gone rogue and turned up unannounced at Smithski’s house so I was getting regular phone updates from his removal team getting him back to Stafford. Even by his standards that was some stunt.