Purchase Tax on Utilities to be Retrospective?
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LAST week we referred to the fact that the Treasury is to impose purchase tax on new utility vehicles where passenger accommodation is provided.
According to a letter sent by an officer of H.M. Customs and Excise, this tax will take effect from a date specified in the Treasury. Order„ and it will apply to all such vehicles having to the rear of the driver's seat roofed accommodation lit by side windows and fitted with, constructed, or adapted for the fitting of, seating for one or more persons. The important point is, so far as people who have already purchased such vehicles are concerned, the date specified in the Order. In many instances where there has been misinterpretation of a clause in a Finance Act, claims are made retrospective, with no particular limit on time. Some of these utility bodies have been mounted on expensive chassis costing, perhaps, £1,000 without the tax, and their users will receive a shock if, suddenly, demands be sent to them for sums amounting to several hundreds of pounds.