UK Bingo Industry in Major Tax Windfall - 05-26-08

May 26 - The UK bingo industry received its first bit of good news for a long time after the Rank Group won a long-running legal dispute that it has had with tax authorities.

The Rank Group, which runs Mecca bingo clubs in the United Kingdom, challenged HM Revenue and Customs office for charging the bingo industry Value Added Tax on interval games played between main bingo games.

Rank charged that the policy was in contravention of the European law's principal of fiscal neutrality. As such, Rank claimed, the HMRC was not entitled to charge VAT on some versions of interval bingo and not others.

It is believed that the ruling, which could see the Rank Group receive 36 million GBP in tax rebate, will urge other companies in the UK bingo industry to bring their own claims against the tax authorities. It is already rumored that Gala Bingo, one of the biggest operators in the UK market, with over 160 bingo clubs, has made a direct claim to the HMRC.

All in all, last week's ruling could see the UK bingo industry landing itself with a 100 million GBP tax windfall, if all claims are successful.

The HMRC has until June 10th to appeal against the ruling and it is generally believed that it will not hesitate to do so. If this becomes the case, Rank will probably not see any of the money that is due to it before the end of this year.

The Rank Group only included the years 2005 and 2006 in its original claim and, if the HMRC appeal fails, Rank may seek out compensation for other time periods.

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