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24/07/2008
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have recently won an interesting case held in front of the Special Commissioners (Emms v HMRC).
The taxpayer contended that, as a professional rugby union player whose position was prop forward (for the uninitiated those are the short but huge players at the front of the scrum!), he required additional food and nutritional supplements in order to properly perform his duties. You certainly require a considerable amount of food if you weigh 125kilos and have to run around a lot! Unfortunately for the taxpayer the law states that expenditure is only tax deductible if it is required in "the performance of the duties" rather than being incurred "to enable him to perform the duties". A fine distinction but in essence any expenditure incurred on items which are used in advance will not be allowed. On a less important point, the taxpayer could not prove that the additional food and additives were used exclusively to enhance his performance as they were all part of a balanced diet and there was a "duality of purpose" (i.e. the additional food was also of general benefit to him and not just to his rugby playing).
One can speculate as to how the case could have been better presented, and what different actions could have been taken. Perhaps he should have taken his supplements at half-time and when he was substituted so that it all happened during “the performance of the duties”! This is all in a peculiar way similar to the position on travelling to work. Expenditure incurred in travelling from home to office is not allowable but expenditure incurred whilst actually there is allowable.
This article is published by the Benedict Partnership
www.benedict-partnership.co.uk
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