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The Privy Council has settled the issue of how Value Added Tax (VAT) is to be added to legal fees in Trinidad and Tobago.

In a ruling on February 20, Lords Hodge, Briggs, Hamblen, Richards and Lady Rose upheld the appeal filed by attorneys for Bhagwantee Singh-Weekes, the mother of a 20-year-old man, Navin Singh, who died in 2014 from complications from a “flesh-eating” disease.

The Privy Council’s decision overturned a ruling by the Court of Appeal and set a precedent for how VAT is to be applied to court-awarded costs.