Roasted! Morrisons loses £17m VAT battle over rotisserie chickens
The UK supermarket chain Morrisons faces a £17m tax bill after losing a lengthy court battle against HMRC over the charging of value added tax (VAT) on rotisserie chicken.The high court has ruled that whole cooked cool-down chickens should be subject to the standard 20% VAT rate for hot food.The dispute relates to changes introduced by the then chancellor George Osborne’s controversial “pasty tax” of 2012, when the Treasury imposed VAT on all hot takeaway food sold by bakeries and supermarkets, such as Cornish pasties, pies and sausage rolls.This prompted a public outcry, forcing the Treasury to partially row back.The Treasury initially said that food sold above “ambient temperature” should be subject to VAT.
It later decided to apply VAT to food stored in a hot cabinet, while exempting products placed on a rack that are sold either cold, or “incidentally hot” but eaten cold.Morrisons has argued that its rotisserie chickens should not be taxed because they are either eaten cold or reheated for dinner.The court ruling noted that Morrisons sold the chickens in bags with foil lining labelled “caution: hot product”.One witness said the chickens were not displayed for sale for more than two hours after they were taken out of the oven.If they had not been sold by the end of that period, they were discarded as waste.
Richard Nichols, the finance director of Morrisons until January, told the court that the company’s tax and treasury team had always cooperated with HMRC of its own initiative.He added that Morrisons “operates in a highly competitive industry sector with low profit margins” and needed certainty of tax treatment to inform pricing decisions.He said research showed that 80% of Morrisons customers buying rotisserie chickens ate the chicken cold or for a later meal.Nichols said the chickens were typically bought by people on lower incomes, and two-thirds of customers felt £4.50 was the maximum they would pay, above the £4.
40 price at the time of the hearings.With VAT, the price would have risen to £5.28 and “could have resulted in hundreds of thousands fewer chickens being bought every month, which would have repercussions for the whole supply chain and for balanced diets of families across the UK”, Nichols argued.It is unclear whether Morrisons will immediately increase the retail price of the chicken.Witnesses said after two hours, chickens in a bag had a temperature of between 42C and 45C, whereas a naturally cooling chicken would be at 31.
8C.The judge said this showed that the products were stored in an environment that retained heat.The ruling concluded: “Morrisons failed to disclose the heat and grease/fluid retention features of the chicken paper bags and the fact that cool-down rotisserie chickens were taken off sale after two hours, whilst they were still well above the ambient temperature and were not on a cooling trajectory that meant that they would only be ‘incidentally hot’ when sold.”The ruling also said: “HMRC did not give clear and unambiguous rulings in 2012-14 that cool-down rotisserie chickens were zero-rated, which Morrisons had a legitimate expectation it could rely on.”Morrisons declined to comment on the ruling.
Festive food for less: Christmas dinner with all the cost trimmings
Figures show that the total cost of the all-important Christmas dinner is up 5% on a year ago, with the price of important elements such as pigs in blankets and stuffing up by 7%.With the cost of living still biting, however, a supermarket price war is taking some of the sting out of high food costs – with Aldi and Lidl selling the ingredients for a main Christmas meal for eight for less than £12.According to exclusive data prepared for Guardian Money by the analysts Assosia, the price of a frozen extra-large turkey is up 10p a kilogram to £3.70 (a 3% rise on a year ago) – which for an 8kg bird works out at £29.60
The 12 condiments of Christmas
Salt, sweet, bitter, acid, umami. While we don’t think to use too much “sweet” before dessert, it can counterbalance and enhance other flavours. Maple syrup is my sweetener of choice during the holidays because it just tastes cozy. Add it to roasted root vegetables or a poultry glaze, and it’s especially tasty in drinks, from hot apple cider to eggnog and even mulled wine.I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like butter, or ooh and ah at a homemade one
‘Every chef should train here’: Turkish restaurant ranks fourth on list of London’s top food spots
On a list of London’s best restaurants, you would expect to see the usual Michelin-starred suspects such as The Ledbury, Ikoyi and The Ritz. But high among these culinary heavyweights sits a humble salonu tucked away in the depths of north London.Neco Tantuni, a small Turkish eatery specialising in the foodie delights of Mersin, a city located on the southern coast of Turkey, has been crowned the fourth best restaurant in London by Vittles, the trendy food magazine that has become a bible for those looking for the best (and more off-the-radar) grub in the capital.“I’m totally shocked,” says Eren Kaya, whose parents hard graft has resulted in their restaurant, situated in a far-flung corner of Enfield, being placed near the top of the 99-strong list.The small shop, which was a greasy spoon cafe before being transformed into the hugely popular food hotspot, hasn’t fully shed the character of its former self
Ho, ho, Hamburg: bringing the flavours of a true German Christmas market home
From glühwein to lebkuchen, bratwurst to stollen, recreating the delicacies I sampled in the city’s festive markets is wholly achievable. Plus, a new digital cookbook for a good cause Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, FeastWithout wanting to sound tediously Scrooge-like, the German-style markets that have become seasonal fixtures in many British cities over the last few decades never make me feel particularly festive. What’s remotely Christmassy – or German – about Dubai-chocolate churros and Korean fried chicken, I grumble as I drag the dog (who enjoys all such things) around their perimeters.Hamburg’s markets, however, which I was myself dragged around last weekend, are a very different story. For a start, the city has many of them, mainly fairly small – and some, such as the “erotic Christmas market” in St Pauli, with a particular theme
Christmas gift ideas for drinks lovers, from champagne to canned cocktails
Don’t get pulled in by silly gadgets: buy presents you’d be happy to receive yourselfThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Alcohol is an unavoidable part of a festive spread (for more advice on which wines, beers and other drinks I like for each and every occasion, take a look at last week’s Christmas drinks guide), but, sometimes, a drink deserves a place under the tree as well as around it – especially if it’s an easy win for a drinks devotee for whom you need to buy a prezzie.The Guardian’s journalism is independent
Nine bring-a-plate ideas for Christmas drinks, barbecues and dinner parties this summer – recipes
Like nibblies, the concept of bringing a plate to a social event or a host’s home can be deeply confusing across cultures and generations. Are you carting canapes? Are you slinging salad? Are you delivering dessert? If we’ve learned anything from the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, it’s that communication is key. So if you’re unsure about what your host expects, just ask.Below are nine summer-friendly recipes to suit various bring-a-plate scenarios: one-bite snacks that go with cocktails, salads to bring to barbecues and make-ahead dessert for dinner parties, arranged in each category from easiest to most ambitious.And if time is seriously short, you could throw together a pleasingly arranged antipasto-ish plate comprised of Guardian Australia’s top supermarket taste test products: crackers, feta, salami and pickles
EU to water down landmark ban on new petrol and diesel cars
Thames Water defers controversial £2.5m in bonuses to bosses
Google AI summaries are ruining the livelihoods of recipe writers: ‘It’s an extinction event’
UK Treasury drawing up new rules to police cryptocurrency markets
At Square One: inside the big barn that offers English cricket a brighter future
Pat Cummins says Bondi terror attack ‘hit home pretty hard’ as tributes flow before third Ashes Test