Cake case opens way for companies to recover millions of pounds from taxman

The European Court of Justice ruled on 11 July 2002 that the UK Customs and Excise Department was not entitled to apply retrospectively a rule it introduced in 1996, capping repayments of overpaid VAT to a maximum of three years. The UK company Marks & Spencer had taken the case to the Court because it claimed it had been incorrectly billed for VAT on products ranging from teacakes and biscuits to bottle water.