- All Answers Ltd, an internet-based company trading under various names such as ‘UK Essays.com’, has lost a dispute with HMRC over whether it should be considered a taxpayer agent or principal for VAT purposes.
- The company provides a platform for clients, mostly students, to have essays and other academic work done for them by a network of writers.
- The writers bid for assignments and produce the work, which is then provided to the client by All Answers.
- The company retains a portion of the fee paid by the client, while the writers receive the rest.
- The dispute centered around whether All Answers should account for VAT on the full amount paid by the client or only on the amount it retains.
- Both the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) and the Upper Tribunal (UT) ruled against All Answers, stating that the contractual terms and the commercial reality of the arrangements indicated that the company was a principal rather than an agent.
Source KPMG
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