Cerebral rather than physical

Meaning of sport within the EU VAT Directive

The English Bridge Union (EBU) organised tournaments and charged players an entry fee to participate. It applied for repayment of VAT paid on the fees on the basis that bridge was a sport for the purposes of the VAT exemption in VATA 1994  Sch 9 group10.

HMRC rejected the claim and the taxpayer appealed. The First-tier Tribunal agreed with HMRC. The Upper Tribunal referred the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU to determine the meaning of ‘sport’ in the context of the VAT Directive.

The court said given there was no definition of sport in the directive its usual meaning in everyday language should be considered while also taking into account the context in which it is used and the purposes of the relevant rules.

It decided that the concept of sport in the directive was...