Autumn 2007 Newsletter Contents Borrowed clothes? You want it when? The daily grind Knock knock Computers@home Stick to the facts It's personal Expense claims Cash down Plant buying Hobson's choice A helping hand Education, education Up with the Joneses Bills bills bills Done to a crisp Tax association

Done to a crisp The famous saying goes, "If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck - chances are it's a duck". What has that to do with tax? Well, back in 1972 the government decided that we should pay VAT on snacks, and at that time there was a relatively limited range of snacks. So the law says that VAT is charged on "potato crisps, potato sticks, potato puffs, and similar products made from the potato, or from potato flour, or from potato starch". Tortilla chips aren't VATable because they may look like a crisp but they are made of something else. Recently the company that makes Pringles tried to persuade the VAT Tribunal that Pringles are not like crisps and they aren't "made from the potato" - they had to disclose the recipe, which is only about 42% spud. They argued that "made from potato" meant "made from not much else" - they would have to be mostly potato to be taxable. The chairman - perhaps after eating too many Pringles - decided that they were quite like crisps, and the largest single ingredient was potato. Don't expect a 17.5% price cut any time soon!