Eligible body for the purposes of exempt supplies of education

SAE Education Ltd argued that it made exempt supplies of education under VATA 1994 Sch 9 group 6 item 1 note (1)(b). This was on the basis that it was a college of Middlesex University. HMRC said SAE was not an eligible body and that the supplies should therefore be standard rated.

The First-tier Tribunal accepted the taxpayer’s appeal but the Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal found for HMRC.

Lord Kitchin in the Supreme Court said the purpose of the exemption was to ensure that access to higher educational services was not hindered by the increased costs that would result if these were subject to VAT. The UK had not defined ‘university’; however the conditions under which a body in the UK was entitled to use the word university in its title were regulated by statute. More than 100 bodies were entitled to call themselves a university and they...