When offering courses to distance learning students, the College offered materials for the courses. As part of the course this supply would be exempt, as books, the supply would be zero-rated, but the taxpayer would be able to reclaim its VAT inputs.
Held: ‘There clearly was a separate supply of goods, namely the printed material from which the students were to prepare their assignments and study for their examinations. The writing, printing and distribution of the books formed a substantial part of the undertaking of the College both in terms of the demands it placed upon its staff as well as the actual proportion of the annual expenditure. The supply of those goods was clearly physically dissociable from the supply of the education service.’ and ‘the error in their [the lower courts’] approach was to treat this as a single either/or question answered by asking whether the supply of the written material was the means for better enjoying the education and by omitting to ask first whether or not the supply of the books was in itself sufficiently coherent, distinct and independent to constitute for the students an aim in itself.’
Judges:
Lord Justice Ward Lord Justice Jacob The Right Honourable Sir Charles Mantell
Citations:
[2004] EWCA Civ 1086, Times 11-Oct-2004
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Card Protection Plan Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise ECJ 25-Feb-1999
A company procuring insurance purchases for credit card protection was as exempt from VAT as was the insurer. A provision which restricted the ability to claim such exemption to those registered as insurers under national was invalid under European . .
Cited – Commissioners of Customs and Excise v British Telecommunications Plc HL 11-Feb-1999
The cost of the delivery of a quantity of new cars from the factory or depot to the purchaser is incidental and ancillary to the supply of the cars themselves, and the VAT on delivery charges was not reclaimable by the purchasing company as Input . .
Cited – Faaborg-Gelting Linien v Finanzamt Flensburg ECJ 2-May-1996
A non-takeaway restaurant is a supply of services, and a ferry supply was made from its place of business. The supply of prepared food and drink at a restaurant resulted from a whole series of services (including the preparation and service of the . .
Cited – Mirror Group plc v Commissioners of Customs and Excise, Cantor Fitzgerald International v Same ECJ 9-Oct-2001
A potential lessee who did not have an interest in immovable property agreed to take a lease in return for money paid by the landlord. The transaction was not exempt from value-added tax under article 13(B)(b) as ‘the leasing or letting of immovable . .
Cited – British Railways Board v Commissioners of Customs and Excise CA 1977
The question of what is the supply, is, looking at all the circumstances objectively, what does the customer get, not why does he want it: ‘It cannot depend on the state of mind of any individual student by asking him or her: what did you pay the . .
Cited – Card Protection Plan Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise HL 6-Feb-2001
The appellants sold a system protecting credit card holders against the consequences of loss or theft. They claimed that it was insurance and exempt from VAT. The commissioners said it was a service and vatable. The card provided a range of services . .
Cited – British United Provident Association Limited v Commissioners of Customs and Excise; etc Admn 23-Jan-1997
In determining whether what would otherwise be two supplies should be regarded as a single supply the court has to ask itself whether one element is an ‘integral part’ of the other, or is ‘ancillary’ or ‘incidental’ to the other; or (in the . .
Cited – Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Madgett and Baldwin (trading as Howden Court Hotel) ECJ 22-Oct-1998
The court considered the criteria for determining whether the provision to guests by a hotelier of travel services (and in particular transport to and from the hotel and excursions) constituted supply which was ancillary to the supply of . .
Appeal from – College of Estate Management v Commissioners of Customs and Excise ChD 13-Nov-2003
The college appealed a finding that the supply of course manuals to its students was part of its exempt rather than zero-rated supply.
Held: ‘Once it is decided that there is a single supply from an economic view which should not be . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – College of Estate Management v Customs and Excise HL 20-Oct-2005
The college supplied educational services by distance learning. The commissioner sought to argue that printe daterials supplied with the course were ancillary and did not have the same exemption form VAT.
Held: The supplies did benefit from . .
Cited – College of Estate Management v Customs and Excise HL 20-Oct-2005
The college supplied educational services by distance learning. The commissioner sought to argue that printe daterials supplied with the course were ancillary and did not have the same exemption form VAT.
Held: The supplies did benefit from . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Education, VAT
Updated: 02 September 2022; Ref: scu.200249
