JD Classics Holdings Ltd v HMRC

In JD Classics Holdings Ltd v HMRC (TC00553 – 12 July) a company imported 23 vintage cars including 20 Jaguars dating from 1954 to 1967. HMRC issued a ruling that the cars fell under customs duty tariff classification 8703. The company appealed contending that the cars should be treated as ‘collectors’ pieces of historical interest’ within tariff classification 9705. The tribunal accepted this contention and allowed the appeal specifically declining to follow the 2005 decision in Barnfinds Ltd (C198). The tribunal held that all 23 cars possessed ‘a certain scarcity value’ and ‘illustrated a significant step in the evolution of human achievements or a period of that evolution’.

Why it matters: Although this is a customs duty case it is also relevant to VAT. The decision is impo-rtant because the Tribunal specifically declined to follow the earlier decision in...