This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
BREAD sold by sandwich chain Subway isn’t really bread at all, Ireland’s Supreme Court has ruled.
Judges made the decision while rejecting an appeal by Subway franchisee Bookfinders Ltd against the application of value-added tax (VAT) to certain products including teas, coffees and sandwiches.
“Staple foods” such as bread are not subject to VAT in the republic, but sweet baked goods like doughnuts are – and Subway bread contains too much sugar to be classed as bread for such purposes, the judges said.
“There is no dispute that the bread supplied by Subway in its heated sandwiches has a sugar content of 10 per cent of the weight of the flour included in the dough, and thus exceeds the 2 per cent specified,” their judgement read.
Bookfinders was appealing against a 2006 decision by authorities who refused to refund VAT payments. Lower courts had dismissed the case before it reached the Supreme Court.
