- United Carpets is a retailer of flooring materials.
- Customers could choose to have an independent fitter for installation.
- United Carpets accounted for VAT only on flooring materials, not fitting services.
- HMRC argued that United Carpets made single supplies including fitting services.
- The First-tier Tribunal ruled there were two separate supplies: goods by United Carpets and services by the fitter.
- Three agreements existed: United Carpets with the customer, United Carpets with the fitter, and the fitter with the customer.
- The fitter provided services directly to the customer, who paid the fitter.
- The FTT considered but dismissed United Carpets’ argument on legitimate expectation regarding VAT treatment.
- United Carpets’ appeal was allowed based on the separate supply ruling.
Source: taxscape.deloitte.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.
