Same or different?

The taxpayer company supplied lecturers to colleges of further education as principal rather than agent. It claimed exemption from VAT because it was an eligible body making supplies of education within VATA 1994 sch 9 group 6 item 1.

HMRC ruled the business was not an eligible body following the Court of Justice of the European Union’s decision in Kennemer Golf and Country Club (C-174/00) [2002] STC 502.

The taxpayer restructured itself creating a subsidiary as an employment bureau that would take over the provision of supplies of lecturers to colleges although some institutions continued to deal only with the taxpayer.

The Revenue decided the new subsidiary was supplying staff not education and that it could take advantage of VAT – Hire of Self-Employed Staff by Employment Bureaux – Further Guidance an article in Business Brief 10/04 which provided that...