Disbursements and VAT when recharging supplies

KEY POINTS

• Can disbursements be recharged to clients without a VAT charge?
• The Ellon case serves as a reminder of the rules on disbursements.
• HMRC’s guidance on disbursements is not based on legislation.
• There may be some confusion on the terminology of ‘sub-contract’ in HMRC’s guidance?
• The key point with disbursements is to understand ‘who is supplying what to whom for what consideration’.

When you know something it’s easy to forget that other people don’t. And when that something has been explained to one person or to 100 people it’s important to remember that the next person encountered may still not know it. So the subject of disbursements and VAT is worth revisiting with some different examples from those covered in Neil Warren’s article ‘Recharging process’ (Taxation  16...