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

While It's Hot? A "hot takeaway" is subject to VAT - fish and chips, hamburger, pizza. A cold sandwich is only VATable if it's eaten on the premises. Simple? The law, of course, is enough of a mouthful to put you off your lunch: a hot takeaway is "food heated for the purpose of enabling it to be consumed at above the ambient temperature". There have been cases in the past about measuring the ambient temperature - someone selling waffles in Scarborough said that ice cream would be above the ambient temperature on the seafront some days. But a recent case from Leeds was about "the purpose" of heating the food. The company ran sandwich shops. One of its products was called a "ciabatta melt" - a fancy roll with cheese melted on top. Not surprisingly, this was baked in an oven on the premises (to melt the cheese and cook the bread) and put on a "hotbed" for display. Customs argued, not surprisingly, that it would be hot when sold and hot when eaten. The trader successfully argued that they had heated it so that it would be cooked. It was kept hot for food hygiene reasons. The customer might eat it while it was still hot, but that was completely beyond the shop's control or knowledge. It certainly wasn't their "purpose" in heating the food. In an earlier case, Pret a Manger lost a similar argument about croissants with mushroom fillings. An employee admitted that they were really nasty if they got cold and they were thrown away as soon as they did. So they were heated to cook them, but it was also intended that people would eat them hot. It's a nice simple tax, VAT