Rank, the owners of Mecca Bingo and the Grosvenor Casino brands, which is amongst the largest providers of UK bingo games, are said to be celebrating today as they’ve reportedly received a £42.5 m refund from HM Customs and Revenue in relation to overpaid VAT. This consists of £16.1 million for VAT paid on main session bingo fees from 2004 to 2009, and £26.4 million for VAT paid on amusement machines from 2002 to 2005. The repayment follows a number of successful rulings, both in the High Court and the Tribunal Tax Chambers.

The first case Rank brought was in relation to the double taxation that bingo clubs were subject to. Operators had to pay bingo duty and VAT on the fees taken in bingo games and sessions, but Mecca said that VAT should not be charged.

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The refund claim for the second case started as jackpot machines were subject to VAT, and fixed odd betting machines prior to 2005 weren’t. Rank said that the VAT obligations contravened the European Union principle of fiscal neutrality, basically that as the machines were similar they should be treated the same as far as VAT was concerned. The tribunal ruled in their favour, agreed that they were similar and therefore the jackpot machines should not have been subject to VAT.

Deloitte gave advice to Rank in both cases, and always believed that they would win. Tony McClenaghan, a Senior Tax Partner for the company said; “This is a very welcome decision following on from earlier victories at the Tribunal and in the High Court. We have always been confident that there was a breach of fiscal neutrality in the differential treatment of the relevant gaming machines and we welcome the Tribunal’s confirmation of this fact. Taxpayers affected by this decision should now consider making claims for overpaid VAT”.

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HMRC have appealed the rulings to the European Court of Justice. This is expected to be heard some time next year, although it is not thought likely to succeed. Rank must be keeping it’s fingers crossed on this, as if the HMRC were to overturn the original verdicts then they would have to return the payment, and to add salt to their wounds would also have to pay interest on this.

Mecca Bingo, one of the biggest names in Bingo, has used its experience and knowledge to make an online bingo site that is packed full of fun games and great promotions. They’re well known for their land based bingo halls across the country and even more so for their online bingo games. Their ethos is based on great customer service paired with great bingo. Mecca bingo online definitely lives up to their reputation.

The online bingo site offers lots of bingo rooms in addition to other great side games to keep players entertained during their stay at Mecca. The site hosts ever popular 90 ball bingo in a very well designed bingo room. Mecca bingo is a very well thought out site and is easy to navigate around with an attractive hot pink design.

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Signing up is very simple and you will find yourself able to play a bingo game in less than 10 minutes. Games run every 2-3 minutes so there’s plenty of bingo constantly waiting to be played. Mecca Bingo’s games have a very fresh looking design with a brilliant chat feature with very friendly CM’s who always give a friendly welcome and are around for advice and help if you need it or if you just fancy a good old natter!

Jackpots at the site are very appealing too as they can reach up to one million pounds each week! Regular pot sizes are generous in addition to the prizes on offer in their instant games.

We highly recommend playing at Mecca bingo as they have fantastic bingo games and promotion and their staff have a wealth of knowledge which is second to none. All of this combined means that they have a great bingo offering which will keep you playing at the site for months to come!

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