Ferrero UK Limited has scored a sweet victory in its appeal against HMRC after a tribunal ruled that its popular Nutella biscuits are not \u201cpartly chocolate-covered\u201d and therefore should be zero-rated for VAT.<\/p>\n
HMRC argued that the product fell under the category of \u201cLuxury\u201d chocolate biscuits, which would attract the standard 20% UK VAT rate. However, after the First-tier Tribunal carefully examined the biscuit structure, which consists of a biscuit cup, Nutella filling, a ring similar to chocolate, and a biscuit disc, the tribunal disagreed with HMRC\u2019s argument, finding that the outer surface of the biscuit was not covered in chocolate and therefore was not subject to the standard UK VAT rate.<\/p>\n
As a result, the biscuits are treated as \u201cbasic foodstuffs\u201d which are zero-rated, meaning it\u2019s a significant win for Ferrero.<\/p>\n
This ruling illustrates how complex UK food VAT rules can be, where a minor difference in classification can decide whether a product is zero-rated or considered a luxury item and hence attracts 20% VAT.<\/p>\n
For companies, this ruling could set a precedent in UK VAT treatment for similar products, potentially reducing costs for businesses and clarifying the VAT status of items that fall between luxury and basic foodstuffs.<\/p>\n
As chocolate lovers here in Meridian, I think we are all pretty happy with the decision of the tribunal but if you wish to discuss any VAT related issues for the UK \u2013 food or otherwise – please don\u2019t hesitate to contact us.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ferrero UK Limited has scored a sweet victory in its appeal against HMRC after a tribunal ruled that its popular Nutella biscuits are not \u201cpartly chocolate-covered\u201d and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239137934,"featured_media":12208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","content-type":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[1360],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nutella_1140x360.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfNysa-3aS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239137934"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12206"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12210,"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12206\/revisions\/12210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meridianglobalservices.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}