Agent or principal?

The taxpayer offered housekeeping services for owners of holiday properties in north Cornwall. HMRC visited the business in 2007 and decided it should have been registered for VAT since 1999. The department registered the taxpayer.

She claimed acted as an agent in arranging services for the owners of the properties she managed. The supply was between the owner and the cleaner or tradesman.

The Revenue argued the taxpayer had a contract with the owners to provide services. Cleaners were engaged and supplied for a consideration.

The First-tier Tribunal looked at the terms and conditions issued by the taxpayer to the property owners and found them to contain “inconsistencies and ambiguities”.

The tribunal therefore considered the facts as a whole. It noted in particular that cleaners did not work directly for or receive payment from the property owners; in the event of damage caused by a cleaner the...