Taking Stock - Revenue pays tax on its own name.
The big question arising from the news that the Inland Revenue has been forced to pay £194 including VAT for the privilege of buying its own name as a web address is can it get its tax back? The Revenue was sold the address www.inlandrevenue.org.uk by a County Durham-based Internet entrepreneur called Alex Nelson, who runs a transport ticket sales site. As a sideline, his site is home to 700 domain names he has registered – many of which are addresses that Internet users imagine big-name organisations will use. The Revenue already has www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk site, but now possesses the arguably more obvious address to add to its collection. But what about that VAT refund?