D owned a company which had bought some flats around 20 years ago through an agent who has been renting them out since then. This was D’s query:
‘It all started in August 2014 when the agent came to see me as he said he had been made aware for the first time that VAT was chargeable on the rents he had been charging on behalf of my company…
Several queries have come up on this during 2014. Getting it right can be tricky. The principle is that where a business is carried on by a taxable person and goods forming part of that business are sold by a third party exercising a power of sale, those goods are deemed to be supplied by the taxable person in the course or furtherance of his business and VAT is chargeable (or not) on that basis.
The client company (AS Ltd) operated as a provider of in-house counsellors and general advice to individuals suffering from addiction and depression and those who were concerned about them. Fees were charged to either patient or family.
The client company was a small agency which supplied dental nurses, primarily on a temporary basis, to various dental practices, hospitals and care trusts. The company had not been charging VAT on the supplies it made.
VAT advice was sought on the effect for a tenant of the service charge provisions in a lease of a commercial unit in a building which consisted of two commercial units and eight flats, all owned by the same lessor. Each lease also carried the right to use a designated car park space.
A registered charity had drafted a proposal under which a major UK corporate would provide the funds to enable it to give grants to 500 individuals to create and develop social and community enterprises. The sponsor’s employees would be given the opportunity to mentor the participants, and there would be branding and marketing opportunities.
A small commercial law firm referred one of their clients for help in establishing the VAT liability of their product. E-Books produce ‘photobooks’ and became concerned when they discovered that one of their competitors had been assessed by HMRC on the basis that their product was subject to VAT at the standard rate.
The UK campuses of an American university were operated by a partnership between that university and a Spanish educational establishment. The partnership was a UK limited liability partnership formed under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000.