Leisure Services Closures – VAT implications for Councils to consider

The key aspects that we think would be important to check from the VAT perspective would include:

The nature of any arrangements should a third party operator collapse
- transfers of assets between parties,
- staff and
- the nature of any compensation payments
Any potential VAT adjustments arising on capital works undertaken on the estate prior to transfer e.g.
- Capital Goods Scheme management implications
- Or capital projects in hand or planned
Modelling the impact for the council (Partial Exemption De minimis levels) should leisure return in house and re-open at a point in time – this is in light of the Ealing Council VAT case which has given councils the ability to retrospectively apply the VAT Exemption on the basis that the Exemption would apply going forward on council run leisure services.

Coronavirus