« Call that breakfast! | Main | Oughton, but not down »
Death and taxes
TS has always regarded tax as a grim subject, especially at the end of the month when a third of TS’s already meagre salary disappears into the ether.
A recent case involving a company called Funeral Planning Services, however, gave grim tax a whole new context.
The funeral service group was engaged in a, er, life and death struggle with HM Revenue & Customs over whether its product should be exempt from VAT.
Disposal of the remains of the dead, TS is told, and the making of
arrangements for, or in connection with, the disposal of the remains of
the dead are VAT exempt. HMRC, however, contended that because Funeral
Planning Services was offering customers a product that covered funeral
costs, and ‘outsourced’ the actual undertaking, the exemption should
not apply.
In the end, the funeral policy provider left HMRC for dead, as it were,
as the tribunal ruled in its favour. The old death and taxes cliché has
never been more relevant.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs-1.gos.vnu.net/mt-tb.cgi/83505
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Death and taxes.
Post a comment