VATupdate Newsletter Week 24 2026

HIC!

This weekend, I had the hiccups.

At first, it was mildly amusing. Then mildly annoying. Then just annoying. As every hiccup sufferer knows, there comes a point where you start trying increasingly irrational remedies. Holding your breath. Drinking water upside down. Being startled by a family member. Reciting the alphabet backwards while balancing on one leg. Science becomes optional.

Fortunately, most hiccups disappear within a few minutes. In medical terms, they’re simply involuntary spasms of the diaphragm followed by the sudden closure of the vocal cords, creating that familiar “hic” sound. Doctors generally only start paying serious attention when hiccups last longer than 48 hours.

But what if they don’t stop?

Meet Charles Osborne.

In 1922, while weighing a hog on his farm, Osborne suffered what was later believed to be a small injury affecting the part of the brain involved in controlling the diaphragm. The result? He started hiccupping. And kept hiccupping. For 68 years. Guinness World Records recognizes this as the longest recorded attack of hiccups ever documented. His hiccups finally stopped in 1990. He died the following year.

Sixty-eight years.

To put that into perspective, when Osborne started hiccupping, sliced bread had only just been invented. By the time he stopped, people were using personal computers. Researchers estimate that he hiccupped roughly 430 million times during those 68 years.

Which brings me neatly to VAT.

Because every VAT adviser has experienced the VAT equivalent of a hiccup.

A small anomaly appears. A minor technical issue. A seemingly harmless question from a client.

You expect it to disappear after a few minutes.

Instead, it stays.

A transaction that should be straightforward turns into a multi-year discussion. A tiny inconsistency develops into a lengthy audit. A technical interpretation becomes a dispute, then an objection, then litigation, and eventually a court case that seems determined to outlive everyone involved.

Most VAT hiccups disappear quickly.

Some last a few months.

A select few develop into their own Charles Osborne.

You know the type. The file that has been sitting in the cabinet for years. The issue that keeps resurfacing. The case that everyone hoped would quietly go away but instead continues to produce fresh correspondence every six months.

“Hic.” Another information request.

“Hic.” Another meeting.

“Hic.” Another interpretation.

Before you know it, you’ve accumulated your own 430 million VAT hiccups.

Perhaps the real lesson from Charles Osborne is not how long hiccups can last. It’s that human beings are remarkably good at adapting to persistent irritation. Whether it’s a diaphragm that refuses to cooperate or a VAT dispute that refuses to die, eventually life carries on around it.

Although if anyone ever discovers a reliable cure for both hiccups and endless VAT discussions, I suspect there would be considerable demand.

Anyone interested in more VAT news, developments and occasional philosophical reflections on the strange similarities between tax law and everyday life can subscribe to the weekly VATupdate newsletter at VATupdate.com

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