VAT focus on payment card handling charges, with Julie Park
The First-tier Tribunal recently released its judgment in the case of National Exhibition Centre Ltd [2013] UKFTT289 and found in favour of the taxpayer. This will come as a welcome relief to a broad range of businesses although it clearly remains to be seen whether HMRC will appeal.
The case is of wide interest given the increased incidence of charges being made for paying for goods or services by credit/debit card. It centres on the question of whether such a charge typically called a booking fee or similar can be treated as a VAT exempt payment handling charge under VATA 1994 Sch 9 Group 5.
Readers will be aware that this issue has been the subject of a number of cases...
