Ross Young Holdings Ltd
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 27 February 1996 |
| Date | 27 February 1996 |
| Court | Value Added Tax Tribunal |
VAT Tribunal
The following cases were referred to in the decision:
BN Biscuits & Foods BV VAT(LON/87/320) No 2571; (1987) 3 BVC 1348
Brutus v Cozens ELR[1973] AC 854
C & E Commrs v Annabel's Casino Ltd VAT[1995] BVC 65
C & E Commrs v Clark's Cereal Products LtdELR[1969] 1 QB 755
C & E Commrs v Quaker Oats Ltd VAT(1987) 3 BVC 119
Candy Maid Confections Ltd v C & E Commrs UNK[1968] 3 All ER 773
EC Commission v UK VAT(Case 416/85)[1988] ECR 3127; (1988) 3 BVC 378;
IR Commrs v Hinchy ELR[1960] AC 748
J Lyons & Co Ltd VAT(LON/87/793) No 2714; (1988) 3 BVC 1372
Stichting Uitvoering Financiële Acties (SUFA) v Staatssecretaris van Financiën VAT(Case 348/87) [1989] ECR 1737; [1991] BVC 102
Zero-rating - Food - Excepted items - Interpretation of phrase in statute - Whether absence of punctuation altered sense of phrase - Value Added Tax Act Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 30 subsec-or-para (2) schedule 8 group 11994, s. 30(2) and Sch. 8, Grp. 1, item 1, excepted item 1.
The issue was whether, in the phrase "Ice-cream, ice lollies, frozen yoghurt, water ices and similar frozen products" in exceptedValue Added Tax Act 1994 schedule 8 group 1item 1 of Grp. 1 of Sch. 8 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994, the word "similar" qualified only the immediate antecedent noun or all those in the sentence.
The appellant was introducing a new range of products to be marketed as "Eat from freezer" desserts which were not water ices. In order to clarify their liability for VAT, a ruling was requested on whether they were zero-rated. This depended on whether the phrase "similar frozen products" qualified merely "water ices" or all the products in excepted item 1. To that end, Customs visited the premises and sampled the products. On 7 September 1995 they issued an assessment on the basis that they were standard-rated.
The appellant contended that had there been a comma after the words "water ices" it would have made it plain that "similar frozen products" meant similar to all the products in Value Added Tax Act 1994 schedule 8 group 11item of Grp. 1 of Sch. 8 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994. As it was, the words merely meant "similar to water ices" which the product was not.
The commissioners contended that there was a common nexus between the products in issue and the specific words in excepted item 1, namely the fact that all were marketed, sold and intended to be consumed in a frozen state. A similar problem had arisen under the purchase tax regime with the phrase "chocolates, sweets and similar confectionery …" where it had been held that "similar" meant similar to chocolates and sweets.
Held, dismissing the company's appeal:
The intention of excepted Value Added Tax Act 1994 schedule 8 group 1item 1 of Grp. 1 of Sch. 8 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 was to deny zero-rating to certain iced products, whether they were cream-based or water-based, so that it was necessary to read the words as if a comma had been included after the phrase "water ices".
[The tribunal set out the facts summarised above and continued as follows.]
Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 30 subsec-or-para (2)Section 30(2) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 makes provision for the zero-rating of the various Groups of products mentioned in Sch. 8 to that Act. The exception from zero-rating referred to in the last preceding paragraph is to be found in exceptedValue Added Tax Act 1994 schedule 8 group 1item 1 of Grp. 1 of Sch. 8 [to the Value Added Tax Act1994], the relevant parts of which Group read as follows:
GROUP 1 - FOOD
The supply of anything comprised in the general items set out below, except-
…
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(b) a supply of anything comprised in any of the excepted items set out below, unless it is also comprised in any of the items overriding the exceptions set out below which relates to that excepted item.
General items
Item No.
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1. Food of a kind used for human consumption. …
Excepted items
Item No.
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1. Ice cream, ice lollies, frozen yogurt, water ices and similar frozen products, …
The commissioners contend that the description "similar frozen products" must be read conjunctively with all the preceding foodstuffs listed in item 1 of the excepted items. Ross Young contends that "similar frozen products" is to be read disjunctively with that list of foodstuffs, i.e. as attaching only to the item "water ices". I am required to decide as a preliminary point in this appeal which of those contentions is correct. …
Mr Garcia [for the appellant] opened his submissions by accepting that the definitions of items exempted from VAT and qualifying for zero-rating were to be construed restrictively, Stichting Uitvoering Financiële...
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Meschia's Frozen Foods v Commissioners of Customs and Excise
...form although remained ice cream for VAT purposes and this served to confirm that TS was frozen yoghurt - Ross Young Holdings Ltd VAT[1996] BVC 2741 followed - Appeal dismissed - Value Added Tax Act 1994 schedule 8 group 1Value Added Tax Act 1994, Sch. 8, Grp. 1, excepted item ...