After a 13-year legal wrangle, the Bront Parsonage Museum has won £600,000 from the taxman.

The popular tourist attraction in Haworth won the money in a landmark court ruling over its VAT payments.

The crux of the battle has hinged on whether the organisation is volunteer-run because it does employ some staff to man the museum.

The taxman has finally accepted that the Bront Society -- which owns the museum -- is a volunteer-run organisation becau-se its board of trustees are all unpaid. This means that because it provides a cultural service and is run on a non-profit basis, the organisation is exempted from paying VAT on all its income under 1990 legislation.

Chairman of the Bront Society Bob Barnard urged other attractions to use the ruling for their benefit.

He said: "As far as we are aware only us and London Zoo have benefited so far, but there are a lot of other cultural organisations that could do. Any museum or gallery or provider of public attraction which is run by volunteers should be looking at whether they have been paying VAT and whether they should have been."

The VAT rebate, worth £596,000 plus interest, has now been paid back to the society.

Mr Barnard added that the long-awaited victory was very welcome but that the society was still deciding how to spend the windfall.

He said: "We are absolutely delighted with this. One thing I would emphasise is that this is our money. We have been paying it out uneccessarily over the last ten years so it is only right that it is returned to us with interest.

"We are very happy though and it is wonderful news for the museum. Because of the economic climate and various factors -- like September 11 and foot and mouth -- we have been running at a deficit, so the money is very much welcome at the moment. We will have to think very carefully about how it is spent. We will look into the possibility of purchasing more memorabilia because essentially we want to improve the museum in any way we can and continue the good work."

The Bront Society is considering a joint venture with Haworth parish church to build new facilities on the back of the nearby Sunday School building, where Charlotte Bront taught.

The building could be used for the museum's educational programme and the church's community events.