Autumn 2006 Newsletter Contents Into The Unknown Season Of Goodwill Farewell Andre Toon Done Doon Day Of Reckoning Artistic Licence Gizmos Again A Free Lunch Sweet As Nectar Security Concerns Going For A Spin The Cap Does Not Fit While It's Hot? Code Cracking Bad Connection Broken Trusts You Can't Take It With You Dividend Returns IR35 RIP? Spam Spam Spam Breaking Up Duty Calls Time Shift Moving Vans

Toon Done Doon The football industry is under scrutiny - Panorama runs a programme about bungs; Lord Stevens is investigating illegal payments; a committee of MPs is looking into the same. In the midst of all this, a VAT Tribunal decision slipped out without much attention being paid to it. Newcastle United paid fees to players' agents for negotiating contracts, and claimed back the VAT on those fees. Customs said that the fees were really the players' costs, not the club's, so the club couldn't claim. The players wouldn't be registered for VAT so they wouldn't be able to claim either. The club argued that the agent was acting for both the club and the player in the negotiations, and that should be enough to make the fee into the club's expense as well. The Tribunal was horrified: an agent can't act for both sides of a transaction, particularly when he has a written contract to act only in the best interests of one. What the club described as "the way everyone does it" seemed to involve breaches of contract law and the FA's rules. There was a long list of transfer deals on which the chairman thought the rules had been broken - nearly every contract negotiated between Newcastle and players' agents for several years. It's understood that Newcastle will appeal. Some people may not want more stirring of these murky waters. In the meantime, you have to remember that you aren't entitled to claim the VAT on an expense simply because you paid for it. The supplier must have done something for you, not just for someone else, and that usually requires some sort of contract between you.