In Everything Everywhere Ltd (aka T-Mobile Ltd) v HMRC (ECJ Case C-276/09) a company supplied mobile telephone services. It encouraged its customers to pay by direct debit or BACS. Where they paid by another method (eg by cheque) it imposed a £3 ‘payment handling charge’. Initially it accounted for VAT on these charges. However in 2005 it submitted a substantial backdated repayment claim on the basis that it should have treated these charges as exempt from VAT. HMRC rejected the claim and the Tribunal dismissed the company’s appeal but the Ch D referred the case to the ECJ for a ruling on the scope of Article 13B(d) of the EC Sixth VAT Directive. The ECJ rejected the company’s contentions holding that ‘the additional charges invoiced by a provider of telecommunications services to its customers where the latter pay for those services not by direct debit...
