Smith Kline Beecham Plc
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1996 |
| Date | 01 January 1996 |
| Court | Value Added Tax Tribunal |
VAT Tribunal
Zero-rating - Whether drink of a kind used for human consumption - Whether a beverage and thus excluded from zero-rating - The appellant sold Ribena Juice + Fibre which it had developed as a drink containing a convenient means of increasing dietary fibre levels - It combined the standard Ribena blackcurrant drink with fibre extracted from fruit, vegetables and cereals - The fibrous extracts accounted for 20 per cent of the total product and provided 3g of fibre in a 250ml serving - Evidence was given that the fibre extract was expensive to produce and that Juice + Fibre was designed and priced as a health product - Customs contended that the product was a beverage and thus an "excepted item", taking it out of the zero-rating afforded to drink of a kind used for human consumption - The appellant drew attention to the health advantages of an adequate fibre content and claimed that as a health food it could not be described as a beverage - Held, that adopting the dictionary definition of a beverage as being a liquid that is commonly consumed and "characteristically taken to increase bodily liquid levels, to slake the thirst, to fortify or to give pleasure" the product in issue had all the physical attributes of a drink or beverage - The amount of fibre, 3g of fibre in a 250ml serving, was a relatively low amount and the fibre content did not change the nature of the drink - Even though the appellant sought to emphasise that the product was marketed as a health food the ordinary person would buy it as a beverage and it was in fact marketed as a soft drink in packaging similar to other drinks in the Ribena range - It fell squarely within the excepted items and was not entitled to zero-rating - Appeal dismissed - ,Value Added Tax Act 1994 schedule 8 group 1Value Added Tax Act 1994, Sch. 8, Grp. 1, general item 1, excepted item 4 and Note (1).
VAT Tribunal
The following cases were referred to in the decision:
Brewhurst Health Food Supplies VAT(LON/91/2488) No. 8928; [1993] BVC 610
Huczek VAT(MAN/92/507) No. 8850; [1993] BVC 1311
W Jordans (Cereals) Ltd VAT(LON/88/514) No. 3275; (1989) 4 BVC 519
Supply - Zero-rating - Whether Horlicks Maltlets and Lucozade Sport Tablets were excluded from zero-rating as food because they were items of sweetened prepared food which were normally eaten with the fingers - Value Added Tax Act 1983, Value Added Tax Act 1983 schedule 5 group 1Sch. 5, Grp. 1, Note (5).
The issue was whether two types of tablets known as Horlicks Maltlets and Lucozade Sports Tablets were "items of sweetened prepared food which is normally eaten with the fingers" so as to be regarded as confectionery under the terms of Value Added Tax Act 1983 schedule 5 group 1Note (5) to Sch. 5, Grp. 1.
The appellant manufactured tablets which were sold under the names Horlicks Maltlets and Lucozade Sport Tablets. Horlicks Maltlets were tablets composed of a powder the ingredients of which combined the nutritional qualities of malted wheat, barley and various dairy ingredients which provide...
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...C & E Commrs, ex parte Kay & Co VAT[1997] BVC 128 Rivella (UK) Ltd VATNo. 16,382; [2000] BVC 2179 Smith Kline Beecham plc VATNo. 10,222; [1993] BVC 888 Smith Kline Beecham plc VATNo. 13,674; [1996] BVC 4198 Southend-on-Sea Corp v Hodgson (Wickford) Ltd ELR[1962] 1 QB 416 Tropicana UK Ltd VA......