Does karaoke count as a cultural pursuit? That’s just one of the questions dealt with by the First-Tier Tribunal Tax Chamber this week. In Lucky Voice Group Limited v The Commissioners for HMRC, the tribunal was ruling on an appeal by the karaoke bar chain over whether it qualified for VAT at the temporary reduced rate of 5% introduced during the pandemic. This applied to ‘shows, theatres, circuses... and similar cultural events and facilities’. 

Tribunal Judge Michael Blackwell agreed that Lucky Voice’s ‘UK-specific canon of songs’, which accounts for 70% of those played, supported the chain’s claim. ‘Viewing the evidence in the round, I accept that the private karaoke rooms supplied by Lucky Voice would be regarded as a part of popular culture and so a cultural facility.’ 

He was less sympathetic to Lucky Voice’s argument that it had been treated unfairly compared with bowling alleys. If its customers showed up and were told that their booking could not be accommodated, but they had been reassigned to a local ten pin bowling facility, ‘complaints would be expected’, he said. 

Who says that judges are out of touch with popular sentiment? 

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