A small business owner has won a payout of £44,500 from the taxman after spending 1,000 hours teaching himself tax law and representing his babywear firm at court. Mike Edwards won the payout from HM Revenue & Customs following a two-year battle over whether his Snugglebundl baby-lifting wrap, a shawl with handles to allow a baby to be picked up without being woken, is exempt from VAT. After the tribunal ruled that the Snugglebundl was babywear, and therefore an 'essential' rather than a 'luxury' blanket, the Mr Edwards secured £31,000-worth of payments back from the VAT Office, with an extra £13,500 rebate also promised.Mike Edwards' victory over HMRC who wanted wanted to slap VAT on his productSnugglebundl allows sleeping babies to be picked up without wakingMr Edwards had to show item was used all day as 'babywear' and not as a 'luxury'He spent 1,000 hours learning tax law so he could represent himself
_ is not the only business to have fought for VAT exemption.