UKSC/2021/0047

News Corp UK & Ireland Ltd (Appellant) v Commissioners for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (Respondent)

Judgment given

Case summary


Case ID

UKSC/2021/0047

Parties

Appellant(s)

News Corp UK & Ireland Ltd

Respondent(s)

Commissioners for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs

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.

Date of issue

23 February 2021

Judgment appealed

Judgment details


Judgment date

22 February 2023

Neutral citation

[2023] UKSC 7

Judgment summary

22 February 2023

Appeal


Justices

Hearing dates

Full hearing

Start date

22 November 2022

End date

23 November 2022

Watch hearings


22 November 2022 - Morning session

22 November 2022 - Afternoon session

23 November 2022 - Morning session

Change log

Last updated 16 April 2024

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