The appellant, Prisma Recruitment Limited, appealed to the FTT relating to PAYE income tax, NICs and a number of VAT default surcharges totalling £85,904.08. The PAYE element of the appeal was allowed but the judge rejected the argument about VAT overpayment.

Prisma is an employment agency which supplied workers to other companies including the BGM Group Limited (BGM), a workplace consultancy business.

BGM provided consultancy services to customers including Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS) and Barclays Capital Limited (Barclays). The work for RBS and Barclays was carried out by the workers supplied by Prisma.