h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

See this pasty tax? The intention is to close an anomaly whereby hat food sold as carryout is zero rated for VAT while food that is not sold to be eaten hot but is, in fact, hot is liable. So now supermarket rotisserie chicken will be taxed the same as KFC,chippie pies the same as pies from a bakers, etc. etc.

Now obviously this has thrown up some mind bogglingly mental anomalies of its own. Someone saying for a Greggs cheese and onion fresh out of the oven would have to pay VAT while the person at the back of the queue who gets it cold would not. Or if a pasty was lukewarm it would be zero rated on a cold day, being hot relative to ambient temperature, but not on a hot .

On the one hand...completely bonkers. On the other...how would you solve it?

Are steak bakes the new jaffa cakes?

there shouldn't be VAT on food anyway - unless it's caviar or something unnecessary...

It's a shrewd move by Dave, with climate change and the increase in the ambient temperature all non-refrigerated foods will end up with a 20% surcharge. He will say it's beyond his control - global forces and all that.

You know what the frightening thing is? That Post 1 relates to reality. It's not a 2legs post, as you might initially suspect.

I think there should be a tax on taking away 2legs above ambient temperature.

B

Does anyone know...is a jar of mussels from a chippie zero rated?

SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION: Who *are* these people who buy jars of mussels from chippies?

And what about pickled eggs?

Doesn't it depend on the type of hat?

I've bought jars of mussels and pickled eggs from chippies.

Supplementary supplementary question: If the chippie mussels aren't zero-rated, will the ones in the fishmonger's next door be?

Oh, I've bought pickled eggs, of course. Food of the Gods. Supper of Champions.

But under what circumstances did you buy a jar of mussels? For bet, like?

Would it be a Norn Irish thing, perhaps?

2' 12"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPfybDTJ-Bo

I can relate to this. In Massachusetts, there's a tax on restaurant meals, but not on food that is bought in grocery stores. When I buy a chocolate chip cookie at Au Bon Pain, sometimes I get charged the restaurant tax by the cashier, who thinks I'm going to sit down and eat in on the premises. Other times, they don't charge a tax, thinking I'm going to take it out of the place and eat it elsewhere....

This has me confused, also. We have the same supermarket/restaurant distinction...and some places ask 'Is it to eat here or take away?' Does this only apply to hot food now?

Aha. Mussels and pickled eggs are zero rated. See Section 4:

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000160&propertyType=document

These are the old rules, prior to the swingeing pasty tax. It is now recognised that pies, pasties and sausage rolls are intended to be eaten while hot (superseding Section 4.4), irrespective of whether they are sold with napkins or knives and forks (see Section 4.5)

Chip butties are taxed at the standard rate (Section 4.7). I find this odd because where I come from they're regarded as a luxury item.

Jaysus! Some poor bastard was made to write this stuff.

So what about quiche? Isn't it ofttimes served cold?

This whole thing's a minefield. I think I'll just steal all my food to avoid any VAT doubts from now on.

Now that is, indeed, a puzzle. I prefer my quiche cold. If I bought a piece of hot, takeaway quiche, would it be zero-rated if I intended waiting for it to cool? Would it count as tax evasion if I promised to wait until it was cold but then scoffed it down anyway?

Does Greggs have a branch in the Cayman Islands?

"Aha. Mussels and pickled eggs are zero rated"

I think you'll find that statement doesn't just apply to tax.

B

I rate a pickled egg very highly with a nice, hot bag of chips.

I was in Scotland at the weekend and didn't even have the chance to get a battered macaroni cheese pie. Tragic.

Evidently George Osborn's advisors had to tell him that a pasty was of peasant version of boeurf en croute

Pickled eggs are REALLY easy to make.

PP