Marks and Spencer, UK Retailer, has been at odds with HM Customs and Excise over VAT on teacakes: no really, it's gripping the nation! M&S argued that teacakes should be zero rated for VAT purposes and HMC&E agreed. What they disagreed on, however, was the recovery of the VAT already paid on the teacakes already sold that had been subject to the tax. M&S said: we overpaid therefore we should get it back. HMC&E said: you overpaid but you cannot give it back to the people who actually paid it. In the first move of its kind, Customs invoked laws on unjust enrichment which prevents the government repaying VAT to companies if it means they would benefit unfairly because it is impossible to pass the recouped VAT back to the people who paid the tax originally. It is the first time Customs has successfully argued unjust enrichment. accountancyage.com See? HMC&E is arguing that M&S would need to be able to reimburse the exact amount of VAT to exactly those people who bought the teacakes when they were subject to VAT! Nonsense? Of course! Solution? You might have your own solution but here are just two from me: either HMC&E or M&S pays the money to a charity: since HMC&E probably can't do that for legal reasons, let M&S do it give the money back to M&S and let them TRANSPARENTLY reduce the selling price of the teacakes they sell now until the money runs out Has HMC&E kept ALL the money? No: The court ruled 90% of the VAT should be retained by the government. accountancyage.com How much money is involved? The BBC provides that answer to that: ... it could be worth £12m to M&S ... Including backdated interest ... M&S believes its claim dates back to 1973 ... The retailer claims it paid £3.3m too much VAT on teacakes £1m too much on bottled water £800,000 on gift vouchers and £500,000 on tinned biscuits news.bbc.co.uk Please note, the BBC article is dated October 2001 so any claims for interest on the amounts owed must be updated to allow for that: another £980,000 at 4% per year compound, possibly. Is this the end of the matter? Not necessarily as M&S could take its case to the House of Lords but it is waiting to learn the outcome over the referral of part of the case to the European court. 'We are considering our position,' said a spokesman. accountancyage.com DW

This just came in and I'm really chuffed about it: Hi D I just wanted to thank you for your VERY informative website. I live in a small town on the South East coast of South Africa called East London (yes, I know, rather British sounding but we used to be a part of the British colonies). I am studying Accounting and Financial Management via correspondence and our local library doesn't have much in the way of Economics or Business. Your website has really helped me with my assignments. Don't worry, I have given you credit in my bibliography! I have done really well so far - all A+ or A's. Nice to know, isn't it. I wrote and thanked Natalie for such kind and unsolicited comments. DW

Update from 27 September. Not only did I paint the front and back door steps but I repainted the front door: looks very smart now, even better than when we moved in. I also painted the garage door: colour = stone. At first Mrs W was horrified and as I was around one third of the way through the first coat she was making plans for an alternative colour. All of our neighbours came to marvel: especially our next door neighbour who realised that he would probably have to paint his own adjacent garage door as his will now look extremely shabby ... it does! After the second coat the following day even Mrs W conceded that the garage door looks smart and the colour is fine. Mr Next Door is unhappy but at the time of writing has still managed to avoid having to paint his own door and the first frost has now struck! He could be safe until next year.

Some of my latest efforts: what I have been up to: Dear DW, Thanks for sending me the answers to the questions concerning IAS1. They have been very helpful to me. have a nice day. Daniel Karin from Italy/Austria continues to get the DW help and assistance treatment. Tony from Liverpool is back and asking about auditing and risk: a huge thanks to Chris Lamb of London Metropolitan University for helping me out with this one. My ImageCorp or PhotoInd spreadsheet is still a popularly requested item: still free of charge! My financial accounting case study is selling well: still only costs £5 and it's a real snip at that. The price WILL be going up soon! My answers to the IAS questions on my site are still popular: still free of charge! Ari used to be confused about capital rationing. Beeny couldn't unravel some basic capital budgeting questions until I came along! And so on! DW

The CBI (Confederation of British Industry) announced that it is furious with the UK government over the UK business tax burden. It says that ... the country's main company taxes stands at around 9% of GDP, above the average of its main trading rivals. . Then the CBI goes on to say The report says the UK is not that different from Germany, where business taxes are 10.1 % of gross domestic product. But worse than the US with 7.3%, with only France taking a significantly higher share of national income, at 14.4%. Well, I reckon the average so far is 10.6% so the UK is doing well. That's an example of how NOT to present an argument: sorry CBI, must try harder! In its defence, The Treasury has criticised the report's calculations and accused the lobby group of being contradictory. Treasury 1 CBI 0 DW

I came across this word in an email just now: who can tell me what gyming means? Seriously, I'd like to know what you think as I present it out of context. Just write to me duncan@duncanwil.co.uk by clicking on this link and then adding your definition! DW

If you're a follower of this glorious WeBlog you might be forgiven for thinking that I've not been updating it ... Blogger.Com and my ISP have been conspiring against me and refused to allow my posts for a while. Here we are again, though: all sorted out ... famous last words! DW