- The Court of Appeal held that private higher education “alternative providers” can rely on VAT education exemption arguments where denying exemption would breach fiscal neutrality, and that the correct comparison is from the perspective of the typical consumer, not the providers’ legal/regulatory status.
- The court said it was bound by the 2020 LIFE decision and found that the lower tribunals applied the wrong legal test.
- HMRC has been granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
- HMRC’s Revenue and Customs Brief 9 (2026) says it still views the education exemption in Group 6, Schedule 9 VATA 1994 as available only to eligible bodies, but alternative providers in a similar position to St Patrick’s may submit claims for overpaid VAT pending the appeal.
- Any claims will be considered case by case and may be limited by unjust enrichment, partial exemption, and VAT treatment elsewhere in the supply chain.
Source: saffery.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.
