Members may be aware that the EBU had appealed against a decision of HMRC not to grant us relief from VAT on competition entry fees. We were represented by our Honorary Counsel David Ewart, to whom we owe many thanks for his efforts. We learnt last week that our efforts had been unsuccessful and there has been some media interest on radio, TV and in the press. We have put up links to some of these articles and reports.
We are currently considering whether to go to the next stage with our efforts and taking legal advice on this. We are aware that in some other EU countries there is VAT relief and also some countries regard Bridge as a sport which both facilitates VAT relief and, in some cases, additional funding. Sadly that is not currently the case in England.
- Tribunal report
- Daily Telegraph article on the report
- Times article on the report
- England International Heather Dhondy gives her views in the Independent
- The Express discusses the tribunal and the popularity of bridge
- Jeremy is interviewed by Voice of Russia radio - audio link is below the main picture
- General Manager Barry Capal speaks to BBC World (if the video will not play in your browser then right click and choose 'save target as' to download)
- There was also a short item on Today programme on Radio 4 (25th February) however the audio for that is no longer available on the BBC site
- Chairman Jeremy Dhondy spoke to TalkSport, however the audio for the interview is no longer available
February 28, 2014