In June 2020, HMRC issued Revenue and Customs Brief 6 (2020) ‘VAT treatment of property search fees charged by solicitors and conveyancers’ confirming the withdrawal of the concession on the VAT treatment of property search fees obtained by post from 1 December 2020.
VAT Cases & News
Summaries of interesting VAT cases for the SME owner.
In June 2020 HMRC published Revenue & Customs Brief 8 (2020): change to partial exemption VAT treatment. This affects businesses who supply goods by way of hire purchase agreements.
In HMRC v Thorsteinn Gardarsson [2020] UKUT 0099, an appeal as to whether a day planner was a book or stationery has been remitted back to the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) to be remade. The FTT applied the wrong tests.
In Premspec Group Ltd v HMRC [2019] TC01374, there was no disallowance of unpaid input VAT under the six-month rule for invoiced supplies between related companies. The relevant consideration was found to be payable later than the date of supply.
Revenue & Customs Brief 5 (2020): VAT treatment on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and gaming machines, explains HMRC’s position following the joint decision of the Upper Tribunal on 15 April 2020 of The Rank Group Ltd UT/2018/0149 and Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Ltd (and others) UT/2018/0150.
In HMRC v Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation [2020] UKUT 0132 (TCC), the Upper Tribunal (UT) rejected a claim for the input VAT attribution of opera production costs to the taxable supply of catering and ice-cream to visitors. There were two separate supplies and the supply of opera was not a direct cost component of the supply of catering.
In Simon & Joanne Cotton v HMRC [2020] TC07553, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) allowed a VAT DIY Builder's Scheme refund. HMRC had refused the claim on the grounds that there was a change of use and it was out of time.