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Call for VAT relabelling concession

Oct 26 2009

VAT relabelling: a taxing job

The government is being urged to extend the time given for retailers to update price labels, as VAT returns to its former level.

Retailers currently have two weeks to adjust their prices, following the increase in VAT on 1 January 2010 from 15 per cent back to 17.5 per cent.

However, the government has said it will consult on an amendment, which would give retailers more time to change labels. 

Tom Ironside, director of business environment at the British Retail Consortium, says: ‘This is a welcome indication that the government could give retailers the extra flexibility we’ve been calling for. Repricing tens of thousands of items is a mammoth and costly task and it has to be done during most retailers’ busiest and commercially important time of year.  '

According to the Office for National Statistics, retail sales remained unchanged from August to September.

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