High Court rules in Rank Group’s claim for bingo VAT

Rank Group, the bingo operator has finally won its claim in getting reimbursed for the VAT paid on Interval Bingo. This claim of the bingo operator on the reimbursement of bingo taxes was upheld by the High Court. Last year, after the VAT and Duties Tribunal ruled in Rank Group’s favour, the bingo operator was awarded £59.1 million from the HM Revenue and Customs.

The ruling favoured Rank Group because the VAT and Duties Tribunal said that the EU principal of fiscal neutrality could not be satisfied by levying this tax. This also makes the bingo operator eligible to claim from HMRC an interest on that sum. A month has been given to HMRC to make an appeal against the ruling of the High Court.

Originally, the claim was for VAT that was levied on the games that were played at Interval Bingo, which was played during breaks of the main bingo games in Mecca Bingo halls. The taxation levied is from January 2003 to June 2008.

In addition to this, the Rank Group has also made a claim for VAT on the gaming machines at Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo with a sum of £26 million from 2002 to 2005. Once again, the High Court ruled in the bingo operator’s favour and has upheld this claim as well.