VAT Tribunal result

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.

February 28, 2014