Madness prevails

IN NEARLY TWENTY years of reading Taxation there has never been a subject that has so offended my sense of justice as the recent appeal cases on depreciation in stock (Mars UK Ltd v Small [2005] STC 958 and William Grant & Sons Distilleries Ltd v CIR) and this has caused me to put pen to paper and write to the editor for the first time. I also refer to the 'Feedback' item entitled 'Another wee dram' in Taxation 24 November 2005 page 215 and all previous articles.
The first misunderstanding is that no-one is suggesting adding back to the profit only a proportion of the depreciation charged in the accounts and that is not what these cases are about. In both cases the taxpayers sought to add back all the depreciation that had been charged in the accounts. 'Charged in the accounts' means — and can...