Whose law is it anyway?

KEY POINTS

• In a recent hearing it was suggested that direct tax cases could offer no assistance to the interpretation of VAT law
• An earlier VAT case did draw on direct tax case principles as guidance.
• The interpretation of words and phrases and whether these can be read across jurisdictions.
• Should European principles be taken into account to make English law compliant?
• Are there now separate bodies of law?

I read two VAT cases one after the other recently. The first was a  First-tier Tribunal decision: A Partnership v HMRC (TC04358).

This concerned the interpretation of VATA 1994 s 26 (“Input tax allowable under s 25”).

In that case Judge Mosedale stated:

“I note in passing that the appellant referred me to two direct tax cases (Southern...