Rank receives EU tax windfall approval
Claim for £253m upheld as Court of Justice of the European Union rules that UK VAT law breached EU legislation.
Rank Group will remain entitled to the £253.4m in overpaid VAT returned by revenue and customs over the last few years after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found in its favour yesterday.
The windfall concerns payments related to “certain types of amusement machines and bingo”, and follows the return of £74.8m in March in relation to overpaid VAT on bingo games between 1973 and 1996.
However eGaming Review understands that an additional £30.8m related to amusement machines “ 11% of the total amount repaid to the operator since 2008 “ is not guaranteed as HMRC has been encouraged by the CJEU to return to UK courts to settle that aspect of the dispute.
Simon French, analyst with Panmure Gordon, notes that while the £30.8m figure remains “more uncertain”, the courts in the UK have already ruled in Rank’s favour once over the specific legal point involved.
Like French, analyst James Hollins of Evolution Securities retains his firm’s ‘Buy’ recommendation, arguing that “Overall…this is an expected and excellent result for Rank, and it bodes well for Rank’s further claims of c£275m”.
Claims for a further £275m are expected to be heard “over the course of the next two to three years”, according to the group’s most recent interim management statement.