News Corp UK & Ireland Ltd (Appellant) v Commissioners for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (Respondent)
Case ID: 2021/0047
Case summary
Issue
Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that News Corp's supplies of digital issues of The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Sun on Sunday were not supplies of "newspapers" within the meaning of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (the "VAT Act") such that they could not be zero-rated for Value Added Tax ("VAT") during the period 30 August 2010 – 4 December 2016.
Facts
News Corp is the publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Sun on Sunday. News Corp argues that the digital editions of these publications were subject to zero-rate VAT for the period 30 August 2010 – 4 December 2016, as they are "newspapers" for the purposes of the VAT Act. HMRC found that News Corp was not entitled to zero-rate the supply of these digital editions. News Corp appealed these decisions. The First-tier Tribunal found that digital editions are not "newspapers" for the purposes of the VAT Act, and so rejected News Corp's claim for recovery of over £35 million. The Upper Tribunal allowed News Corp's subsequent appeal. HMRC appealed to the Court of Appeal, which allowed its appeal. News Corp now appeals to the Supreme Court.
Judgment appealed
Parties
Appellant(s)
News Corp UK & Ireland Ltd
Respondent(s)
Commissioners for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Appeal
Justices
Lord Hodge, Lord Kitchin, Lord Hamblen, Lord Leggatt, Lord Burrows
Hearing start date
22 November 2022
Hearing finish date
23 November 2022
| Watch hearing | ||
|---|---|---|
| 22 November 2022 | Morning session | Afternoon session |
| 23 November 2022 | Morning session | |
Judgment details
Judgment date
22 February 2023
Neutral citation
[2023] UKSC 7
- Judgment (PDF)
- Press summary (HTML version)
- Judgment on The National Archives (HTML version)
- Judgment on BAILII (HTML version)
| Watch Judgment summary | |
|---|---|
| 22 February 2023 | Judgment summary |