Retailers not entitled to pay less VAT

On Thursday 5 March the ECJ published its final judgment in the case of J D Wetherspoon. The case concerned rounding and could have cost the Treasury millions of pounds if Wetherspoon had been successful.
 
The ECJ had been asked to rule on whether European law requires UK retailers to round up the VAT amount due whenever the fraction of the pence amount is at or above 0.5 (for example, should 0.5 pence be rounded up to the nearest whole pence?). The Court decided that the UK was indeed free to require retailers to round up the VAT due to HMRC.
 
Retailers had been awaiting this judgement with baited breath as a decision in their favour could have left them millions of pounds better off. Expectations had already been lowered as the Advocate General had previously opined in HMRC's favour. This latest judgment finally dashes retailers' hopes.