In this month’s VAT updates, Graham Elliott, VAT expert examines recent cases on input tax from charity imported services in Wellcome Trust to DIY Housebuilders Scheme claim relating to property development in Long case
Charity imported services in Wellcome Trust
The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has decided a point in a manner that is binding on UK courts (subject to the rules of later repudiation) because it answered a reference from a UK court. The case is Wellcome Trust C-459/19.
The charity is registered for VAT, but most of its activities are non-business. It imports investment management services which contribute to its non-business investment activities. It argued that the reverse charge should not apply to these imports as they were not in connection with the charity acting as a ‘taxable person’ (or, not ‘acting as such’ in the terms of the VAT Directive).
However, the CJEU disagreed and stated that the use of the services is not genuinely ‘private’, and that the purpose of the requirement that the taxable person acts ‘as such’ is merely to distinguish between a private activity and an activity which is a true purpose of the body.
Whils
