The appellant, All Answers Limited, made an appeal against a series of VAT assessments issued by HMRC for the periods 12/16 to 03/20 totalling £419,559.

All Answers ran an internet-based business through which customers could order academic work which were written by third-party writers, who were not employed by the company.

The key question in this case was whether the company was acting as an agent of the third-party writers and therefore only obliged to account for VAT on its share of the customer’s payment.

If acting as principal, it was required to account for VAT on the full value of the payment made by the customer.