Private school parents have been warned HMRC may take action if they paid school fees upfront to avoid VAT charge.

Tax experts at Blick Rothenberg have warned that public schools that took an ‘aggressive approach’ to encourage parents to pay fees upfront before anti-forestalling measures were put in place, may be subject to legal challenges from HMRC.

Before coming into effect in January 2025 anti-forestalling measures were in force to ensure that any advance payments made after 29 July 2024 would be subject to VAT.