Supreme Court Rules NHS Hospital Car Parking Subject to VAT, Not Exempt as Public Authority

• The Supreme Court ruled that Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust must pay VAT on hospital car parking charges.
• The Trust was not acting as a public authority under a special legislative regime (SLR) because the Department of Health guidance was not legally binding.
• Even if the Trust had qualified under an SLR, exempting it from VAT would have caused significant distortions of competition.
• The decision affects around 70 similar NHS appeals and up to £100 million in VAT, clarifying the VAT position for NHS-operated car parking.

Source: rpclegal.com

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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