Over-aggressive planning?

AS THE LAWYER who lost Faith Construction for Customs in the VAT tribunal I have mixed emotions when people describe a pre-payment scheme as 'a routine Faith Construction matter'. Not least because I think no-one at the time thought it was routine. The dust of the years may have served to cover what was then thought to be a pretty smart piece of avoidance but dust can be removed to reveal a surface underneath. The question in BUPA Hospitals Ltd and Goldsborough Developments Ltd (17378) was whether that surface was in pristine condition and stood up to close scrutiny or not.

BUPA Hospitals Ltd and Goldsborough Developments Ltd appealed against Customs' decisions to disallow input tax recovery.

Background

BUPA Hospitals runs private hospitals and is part of the BUPA group of companies. BUPA Hospitals' supplies of drugs and prostheses to paying patients had been...