Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Annabel's Casino Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 21 December 1994 |
| Date | 21 December 1994 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
Queen's Bench Division (Crown Office List).
Schiemann J.
Kenneth Parker QC (instructed by the Solicitor for Customs and Excise) for the Crown.
Stephen Allcock QC and Rupert Baldry (instructed by Moger & Sparrow, Bath) for the taxpayer.
The following cases were referred to in the judgment:
HJ Glawe Spiel- und Unterhaltungsgeräte Aufstellungsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG v Finanzamt Hamburg-Barmbek-Uhlenhorst (Case C-38/93)TAX[1994] BTC 5242
Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacional de Alimentación SA (Case C-106/89) [1990] ECR 1-4135; [1989] 1 CEC 124
Stichting Uitvoering Financiële Acties (SUFA) v Staatssecretaris van Financiën (Case 348/87) TAX[1989] ECR 1737; [1991] BTC 5113
Webb v Emo Air Cargo (UK) Ltd WLR[1993] 1 WLR 49
Value added tax - Exemption - Gambling - Supply of chip sorting machines - Whether provision of facilities for playing games of chance - Whether exempt - Value Added Tax Act 1983 schedule 6 group 4Value Added Tax Act 1983, Sch. 6, Grp. 4, item 1 (Value Added Tax Act 1994 schedule 9 group 4Value Added Tax Act 1994, Sch. 9, Grp. 4, item 1); sixth VAT directive 77/388 of 17 May 1977 (OJ 1977 L145/1), eu-directive 77/388 article 13(B)(f)art. 13(B)(f).
This was an appeal by Customs against a decision of the VAT tribunal that the supply of chip sorting machines for use in a casino was exempt from VAT under the Value Added Tax Act 1983 schedule 6 group 4Value Added Tax Act 1983, Sch. 6, Grp. 4, item 1.
The business of the taxpayer was the provision of gambling facilities in its casinos. A chip sorting machine was used to sort the chips into manageable stacks at each roulette table so that the croupier could handle them with greater efficiency.
The question was whether the supply of chip sorting machines to a casino operator amounted to "the provision of any facilities for the placing of bets or the playing of any games of chance" within the meaning of theValue Added Tax Act 1983 schedule 6 group 4Value Added Tax Act 1983, Sch. 6, Grp. 4, item 1.
Before the VAT tribunal Customs argued that the chip sorting machines were too remote from the gaming and were to be distinguished, for example, from a roulette wheel. Before the court, however Customs abandoned that argument and contended that even the supply of roulette wheels would not be an exempt supply.
Held, allowing Customs' appeal:
Since exemptions from VAT were to be strictly interpreted, the proper construction of Value Added Tax Act 1983 schedule 6 group 4Grp. 4, item 1 in Sch. 6 to the 1983 Act, in accordance with eu-directive 77/388 article 13(B)(f)art. 13(B)(f)of the sixth VAT directive, was that the exemption was designed to exclude "gambling" from the ambit of the tax and did not have the effect of exempting the supply of equipment to be used for gambling.
Schiemann J: This is an appeal by Customs against a decision of the VAT tribunal (chairman Mr R T Rowland QC) made on 24 June 1993. Customs sought to charge tax on a supply. The tribunal held that the supply was an exempt supply by virtue of a provision in Value Added Tax Act 1983 schedule 6Sch. 6 to the Value Added Tax Act 1983 and therefore not liable to...
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