VAT: ‘Food’ or ‘Confectionery’
Group 1 of Schedule 8 VAT Act 1994 specifically makes ‘food’ zero-rated, although there is a long list of ‘excepted items’ which do not qualify for the zero-rating and are therefore standard-rated. Excepted item No. 2 is “Confectionery, not including cakes or biscuits other than biscuits wholly or partly covered with chocolate or some product similar in taste and appearance”. Note 5 expands on the meaning of ‘confectionery’, saying that it “includes chocolates, sweets and biscuits; drained, glace or crystallised fruits; and any item of sweetened prepared food which is normally eaten with the fingers”. Over the years, there have [...]